Stalk the Family Secrets
by Lemonn-Limee
Summary: Cam and the gang have been on undercover operations for fifteen years. When Cam's twelve year old-6th grade daughter suddenly gets pulled into the op unknowingly, will she willingly accept her family's secret life? Please Read and Review!
1. Chapter 1: Speak Away

**Disclaimer: Disclaimed. :)**

**Hey guys, I've been working on this for a while and finally decided to post it. I hope you guys like it! Please review!**

**Prologue**

The neighborhood of North Cove, just two hours north of Roseville, VA, was a seemingly normal neighborhood. The houses were all different, all with full sized yards, and the people living in them were all friendly. During the summer and the weekends the streets were filled with kids ranging from 3 to 17, and the front porches were home to lemonade and bandaids.

What those citizens didn't know, was that inside their own, safe neighborhood lived a CIA most wanted man and two of the best CIA agents the agency had. And in the neighboring neighborhood, there were two more.

Cameron Anne Morgan and Zachary Martin Goode had lived in that neighborhood for fifteen years, under cover and living a seemingly normal life. A year into their cover they had a son, and now he was fourteen, a seventh grader, experiencing his first year of Gallagher and Blackthorne. A year later, they had a baby girl, and now, she was twelve, a sixth grader in the local middle school, and a possible target by the man living just down the street from them.

Zach and Cam "Griffon" were the popular faces of the neighborhood. Zach was a well-established business manager, and Cam worked from home for a company no one knew (the CIA). Their daughter was the neighborhood kid, the one who was never home because she was always at a friend's house, the one who was friends with anybody and everybody, and the one who was on all the local sports teams. She was also the kid everyone wished to be because she was strikingly gorgeous, even if at twelve, almost thirteen, she didn't believe it.

Her shoulder-length dark brown hair she had inherited from her father framed a face with high cheek bones and freckles. Her lips were bow shaped, and her eyes were a dazzling blue-green that changed occasionally to grey. Her muscles were well toned, and her skin was flawless and tan.

Their son used to be the quarterback for the football team, the hot guy with straight As and all the girls. The guy everyone wanted to be. He had dark hair and dark green eyes, and under his shirt he had an eight pack, something the football teamed joked was developed on steroids.

After fifteen years in cover, though, something was about to break, and something was about to happen that no one expected, especially the twelve year old girl whose life was about to change.

**Chapter One**

_To the parents/guardians of Miss Nicole Evelyn Griffon;_

_This letter is to inform you that your daughter is failing Algebra. If her grade does not improve by the end of the nine weeks, she will have to take it again. There is a test coming up next Tuesday that if she gets an A on will bring her grade to a C. I highly suggest you encourage her to study. Please sign and have her return this form tomorrow. -Mr. Davis._

The short, brown hair grey eyed girl stared at the paper in her hand as if it would make the black print blend in with the paper and all her troubles would disappear. Nicole Evelyn Griffon, who usually went by a shortened version of either her first or middle name, made her way up the sidewalk that ran through the neighborhood, passing every house before she made it to the cul-de-sac where her house sat. In the driveway sat three cars, and it took her only a second to realize that the arrival of the third meant someone was home. That someone happened to be her brother.

"Matt!" Nicole yelled, suddenly forgetting her soon to be doom. She ran up the sidewalk and burst through the front door. In front of her sat her mother, her brother, and her so-called uncle, Joe Solomon.

"Oh, hey Uncle Joe," she added, dropping her backpack on the floor and sliding off her lucky tennis shoes.

"Hey!" Matthew, who went by Matt usually, said, standing up and walking over to give his sister a hug.

"Are you out of school already?" Nicole asked, walking over to the kitchen table and taking the empty seat beside Matt.

"Yep!" he said, smirking. He knew she still had four weeks of school left.

"How was your day?" Nicole's mother asked, and suddenly the happy-go-lucky mood vanished as fast as it had come. Seeing the smile drop off her face faster than anyone could stop it, Matt quietly left room, sensing trouble. Solomon, who was almost like a second father to the kids, looked knowingly at her as she pulled the folded paper out of her pocket.

"Oh, well, it could have been better. How was yours?" she asked, taking a subtle breath to calm her shaking hands.

Her mother, Cameron Anne Goode(Griffon), was her best friend and biggest enemy. Her mom only had two main rules: 1. Grades always come first, and 2. Don't ever lie to her or Nicole's dad.

"Oh, you know, the usual. Two business calls, a short phone meeting, and now I'm playing phone tag with my boss. What you got there?" she said, reaching out for the paper Nicole had been reading since she received it in third block.

She reluctantly let her mom take the paper from her hands, and while her mother was silently reading it, she looked down at her feet, and then around the room, locking eyes with Solomon for a maximum of five seconds before she turned away.

"Anything else?" her mother asked, and Nicole had the feeling her mother knew this was coming. Walking back over to her backpack, she pulled out her most recent science test-a test she had planned on hiding. The grade at the top was horribly low.

As her mom reached out to grab the test, she slid the letter from Nicole's teacher over to Solomon. With a quick glance at her, he grabbed the paper and held it up to read it. A raised eyebrow and barely noticeable from was enough to turn her attitude from guilty to defensive. She shrugged her shoulder's defiantly and walked to the staircase.

"I'm going to have to talk to your father Evelyn," her mother said, stopping her. The use of her middle name made her bite her lip. She was in major trouble. "But for now, give me your phone and leave your TV and laptop off," her mom continued, and reluctantly Nicole pulled her phone out of her pocket, turned it off, and dropped it into her mother's extended palm. She made her face a mask, an expression she had easily picked up from her parents, and shrugged again as she turned to jog up the stairs.

At the top of the stairs, her mask broke and the anger and defiance quickly turned to tears building up in the corner of her eyes.

"Don't cry," her brother warned, appearing out of nowhere. She sniffed once and wiped the pooling tears with the back of her hand.

"Don't plan to," she muttered, trying to walk past him into her room. He reached out and caught her elbow, stopping her from passing. She sighed and engulfed him in a hug.

"You have a lot of catching up to do," she joked, pulling him into her room with her. She sat on her beanbag while he lounged across her bed as she told him everything that had happened that school year. He was her best friend, confident, rock, supporter, and cause of her trouble.

Downstairs, her mother shook her head and reread the paper from Mr. Davis and rechecked all the answers on the science test. How in the world her daughter, a soon to be spy, was failing two classes out of four, was beyond her comprehension at the moment.

"She's just being twelve," Joe said, reassuring her that she wouldn't do anything to compromise her abilities of getting into Gallagher and Blackthorne Academy for Exceptional Young Students. Even with her parents being two of the best, there was no guarantee they could get her in if she failed Algebra.

An hour later, when Nicole had finished her homework and Cam had checked it, the kitchen counters were clean, and the table was set for dinner, her father walked in the front door.

"Hello!" he called in his usual cheerful manor as he hung his coat on the coatrack in the entryway and walked in. Her father was much like her mother, loving but strict, and demanded respect. He may seem like a nice guy, but no one crossed him. Well, no one but his kids.

Her father's cheerful mood diminished when we saw his daughter standing at the back of her chair and staring out sliding glass door, his wife staring determinedly at the chicken she was cutting, Matt leaning against the wall patiently waiting, and Joe Solomon sitting at the table fingering a sheet of paper.

The dinner was fast, tense, and silent. Only after all the dinner dishes had been washed and dried and kitchen cleaned up did anyone speak.

"Zach, Evelyn received a letter from her math teacher today," her mother started, and Nicole rolled her eyes and turned her head to look out the window. She could feel more than see her father staring.

"I think it's best you go to your room," her father said, rubbing his hands up his face and through his hair.

Evelyn got up and quickly ran up the stairs silently. With nothing to do without a TV, computer, or phone, she started laying out clothes and packing her backpack for school the next day.

She heard Matt come upstairs, too, but he never made an appearance.

Downstairs, Cam and Zach had no idea what to do with their girl. Since they had been on a covert operation for the past fifteen years, Evelyn had never been told the truth about who they really were. As far as she knew, Zach was a lawyer and Cam worked for the government, and Matthew got accepted into one of the best private schools in the country.

"How can she be failing? She's so smart!" Zach said, looking at the paper from Mr. Davis again.

"She doesn't care, Zach," Cam said, sighing. There was no way Nicole Evelyn Goode could make her way at Gallagher at the moment. She had never spoken a foreign language in her life, and as for fighting, she took karate when she was seven, but hadn't touched her black belt since.

"She's not ready," Zach muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose with his finger. He wished they had told their daughter of their real occupations long before now.

"What do we do?" Cam asked, pulling her feet into the chair and rubbing them.

"Start teaching her other languages. If she's going to go to Gallagher Academy, she's going to have to get her act together," Joe said, standing up.

Zach reached over and reread the paper from her teacher. After a moment, he grabbed a pen and signed it before laying it over on the counter behind him.

"I have to get back to the school; there's still some work to be done," Joe said, standing. "I'll talk to her while I'm saying goodbye."

"Thanks, Solomon," Cam said, offering a small smile to the man who had basically became her father and mentor over the years. He nodded before heading up the stairs.

"Knock, knock," Solomon said, rapping his knuckles on the side of Nicole's door before walking in. Matt, who had heard his almost silent footsteps on the stairs, had retreated just seconds before to his own room.

"What?" Nicole asked, rather rudely.

"I'm leaving," he said, ignoring her tone.

"Oh, well, bye. I'll see you next trip, right?" she said, giving him a hug.

"You should be coming with me next trip," he said, sitting on the edge of her bed. "If you get your grades back up," he added.

She bit her bottom lip a moment before responding. "Yeah, well. Maybe," she said.

"No, not maybe. Nicole Evelyn, you will make it into Gallagher Blackthorne, and you will get your grades back up-higher than they need to be," he said.

She narrowed her eyes slightly before shrugging.

"Promise me you will," he said, trapping her between outright defiance and a promise she couldn't break.

"Fine! I promise," she said, exasperated.

"Good. I'll see you next time shorty," he said, hugging her again before walking out. Nicole rolled her eyes at his back as he left.

"Make sure she doesn't get into trouble Matt," he said, poking his head into Matt's room. "See ya next trip," he added, and Matt looked up and smirked.

"Got it. Thanks," he said, and then Solomon went back downstairs and disappeared out the back door.

The next day, Nicole ate breakfast and got on the bus without saying a word to anybody in the house. She ate quickly and spent the ten minutes before the bus came on the front porch by herself. She was in too much of a mood to say anything.

Later that day, the telephone rang. Zach, who had stayed home from the 'law' office that day, picked it up, expecting it to be the director. Instead, it was Mr. Zambodi, the middle school's principal.

"Hello?" he said.

"Hello," Mr. Zambodi responded. "This is Mr. Zambodi, the middle school principal. I am calling to inform you that your daughter, Nicole, is in my office."

"Oh," Zach said, rolling his eyes and staring out the window. "What for?"

"Well, for two reasons. The first is that she got in a fight earlier in the day with another student, and the second is that she was thought to be cheating on a math test."

"Oh really," Zach said, grabbing the keys off the kitchen counter.

"Yes, sir," the principal responded.

"I'm on my way, sir," Zach said before hanging up rather loudly. He walked past Cam, giving her a quick peck on the cheek on his way out the door to his car. After a moment of thought, he took his old truck, partly just to drive Nicole crazy.

How in the world a spy's daughter, even if said daughter did not know it, was caught cheating on a test flabbergasted him to no end. There were so many tricks Evelyn had caught them doing before, like catching a image off a reflective surface or doing a general scan of the room to look at something, that he found it hard to believe she would cheat in a way that would get her caught.

Especially because she knew what would be waiting for her if she was caught.

"Hello, sir," Zach said, shaking the principal's hand as he walked into the school.

"Hello! My office is right this way!" the principal said, motioning to one door on the left. Outside of the door was a bench, and sitting on the bench was a 6th grader who was about to get in a whole lot of trouble.

"Stay," her dad told her as he walked into the office and shut the door. Evelyn rolled her blue-green eyes and brushed back a strand of dark brown hair. Her ponytail, that was up only for gym purposes, was falling down, but she didn't feel like putting it back up. Her gym suit, a blue Tshirt and athletic shorts, were speckled with blood, and although most of it was not hers, her lip had blood covering it, and her cheekbone was swollen and purple.

Ten long, slow, silent minutes later, Nicole was joined outside the office by her father and her principal, both scowling.

"You are retaking your math quiz, right here, right now, so that they know you aren't cheating, and then you are coming home with me," her dad said, his posture stiff. The principal handed Evelyn a math quiz and a pencil, and watched as she quickly solved the equations and graphed the lines. She checked back over her answers twice before handing it back to him with a smirk on her face, much like the ones her father tended to wear.

"Thank you. Have a nice day," her father said stiffly, grabbing her shoulder and guiding her out the door and to the truck.

"The truck?" she asked, raising an eyebrow as she climbed in.

"If I were you, I'd keep my mouth shut," he told her, staring straight at the road.

Usually, Nicole was a daddy's girl. She told him everything, sat on his lap in the living room to watch movies, and they got along great.

But at the moment, his emerald green eyes seemed intently focused, but soon they lost their angry edge and he relaxed a little. Once he pulled into the driveway and they both had gotten out of the vehicle, he seemed a lot calmer.

"Oh my gosh," Cam said from the doorway as she watched them climb out of the car. Nicole's cheekbone was swollen, bleeding, and as bright as purple as her shoes, while her nose still dripped blood and her lip was still coated.

"You should have seen the other girl," Nicole joked, grabbing her backpack from the tailgate.

"I bet she looked great," Matt joked back from behind Cam.

"Get back in the house Matthew!" Cam scolded, rushing him back in.

"In the house," he dad said, following her up the porch steps. "Sit," he added, pointing at the table. Doing as she was told, she sat down in her mom's usual seat and looked around. Suddenly, her mom reappeared with cotton, gauze, a washrag, and alcohol and peroxide.

Now, Nicole Evelyn Griffon was no wimp; if there was any aspect of espionage her parents had taught her, it was to take a little pain. But as her face filled with bubbles and alcohol seeped into her cuts, she thought she might have to complain. Just once.

About the time she had made up her mind and opened her mouth, her father had, too, so she stopped and let him speak.

"Well, you are suspended for the rest of the week and Monday," he started, and behind him Matt gave her a thumbs up. "Matthew go away!" he half joked without turning around, and Matt slunk away into the living room. "So, I hope you do know that we are expecting an explanation for how in the world you got cheating," he finished.

"I didn't get caught cheating. We took a quiz and I got a 100 on it, and she thought I had to be cheating off someone. I told her I wasn't which just made her believe I was even more."

"I don't care why, but who did you get in a fight with?" her mom asked, sticking a butterfly bandage across her cheekbone.

"Audrey Macintosh."

Cam choked on her own spit and started coughing, and Zach raised his eyebrows. Nicole heard a low whistle from the living room, making her wonder whether Matt was watching TV or listening in and knew who Audrey was.

"What?" Nicole asked, the word sounding more like "wub" than anything because of her fat lip.

"Nevermind," both her parents said at the same time, and Cam made a mental note to call Macey as soon as she could.

"Ok then," Nicole said, standing up. She wobbled a little bit and sank back into her seat.

"Concussion?" her mother asked, watching her carefully.

"No, just vertigo," she said, before standing up slower.

"I guess since you're home for a couple of days, now's the perfect time to learn French!" Zach said, and she turned and glared. Remembering what Solomon had made her promise about behaving, she sank back down into her seat, pulled her knees up to her chest, rested her chin and top, and said, "Ok, speak away."


	2. Chapter 2:Break In

A little shoutout to my reviewers!

** .: Thanks for reviewing! Here's more! :)**

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_**Chapter 2**_

"No way," Macey McHenry spoke from the other side of the phone.

"Yeah, and it wasn't just a fight. It was basically a free for all death match. She has a slight concussion," Cam said, peeking her head around the corner into the living room where Nicole was sleeping on the couch, covered by a blanket, with the TV blaring a movie. In the chair opposite of her, Matt was laying strung out across the chair sideways, watching what was left of the movie.

"Yeah, Audrey has a serious black eye, a fat lip, and a possibly broken nose. I don't know about a concussion, she went to a friend's house. Her mom is sending her home, concerned. I don't even think I make makeup to cover that up," Macey said.

"I'm sure you do, Mace. You make everything under the sun. For the CIA."

"Yeah, but still. Black eyes are horrible to cover," Macey said. "Changing the subject, have you heard about the local stalker?"

"Yeah, it's our guy," Cam said, walking back through the house to a small soundproof hidden office under the stairs.

Inside, four manila envelopes lay open, papers spilling out, cluttering the desk. Pens decorated the area, scattered along the floor, the desk, the bookshelves, and the cup of pencils. Sitting in her desk chair was her husband with his tennis-shoes feet resting on the desk, a phone pressed to his ear, his eyes rolling, his mouth smirking, and his nose twitching every now and then. Cam lowered her voice slightly, curling her feet up underneath herself as she sank into the chair opposite the desk.

"His targets are middle school students," Macey said, her voice lowering some over the phone.

"The girls are fine, Mace," Cam said, licking her lips and casting Zach a nervous glance. He was setting his cell phone down, and he looked up.

"You can't possibly know that," Macey said, and Cam took a deep breath. Macey was right, she couldn't. She honestly hadn't even thought of the danger the girls were in.

"Macey, I have to get off here for the night. I'll call you tomorrow," she said before hanging up and looking at Zach.

"They'll be fine," he said, practically reading her thoughts like a mind-reader. He stood up and walked over to her. She met him halfway, letting him engulf her in a hug. The safety of being in his strong arms comforted her, and she laid her head on his shoulder.

"Come on, we have work to do," he murmured in her ear, and they sank to the floor where they were and started working on a file for the CIA.

In the living room, Nicole slept soundlessly on the couch, curled up under the blanket. With her bruised face towards the ceiling and no blood dripping anywhere, she was quite content to lay there for a long while.

Outside the living room window, though, was someone intent on ruining her plans. Through the clear windows, a figure loomed, creeping through the windows with a camera. The click of the camera was inaudible, and the flash was unnoticeable to even an aware person.

The movie ended, and Matt got up to go get a drink. From the kitchen window, he caught a reflection of light and made out a figure in the dark. He watched the living room through a little crack in the wood paneling in the kitchen wall.

As Nicole slept, the figure grew braver. The longer that went by without sight nor sound of her parents, the more confident he became. He slowly pulled up on the window, breaking the locks soundlessly, and opened it all the way.

On the couch, Nicole heard the pop of the window as it shifted through the ridges to open. Remembering a few tricks she had picked up from her mom and dad, she remained motionless, and kept her breathing even. She didn't know who was there yet.

The intruder, wearing solid black from toes to shoulders and no face protection, climbed through and started tip-toeing over to Nicole on the couch.

Nicole, hearing the almost silent footsteps from the couch growing closer, waited just a second longer. When she could tell he was in reaching distance, she let out the most blood-curdling scream she could manage and sent her fist flying for his head.

Immediately, she was on her feet, fists braced and feet spread, ready for a fight.

The intruder took a step back, having to rethink his first plan. He had thought she was sound asleep.

Nicole let her breathing come in slow even breaths, knowing that if her fear got the best of her she would lose whatever advantage she might have. As the intruder moved closer and threw a punch, she ducked and swung her foot out, nailing him in the ribcage.

She noticed the room starting to spin and hoped desperately that her concussion she had denied earlier wouldn't overtake her at this moment. Her intruder lashed out again, and she missed his blows by jumping back. It seemed her parents were in their study where they couldn't hear a thing. But where was Matt?

Matthew stayed hidden, prepared to come to Nicole's aid only if she really needed it.

Suddenly, Nicole got an idea. She started backing up more, instead of pushing her attacker back. The farther up she backed, the closer she got to the staircase.

As she dashed to the left, out of the way of a right side blow, she tripped and fell into the table beside the couch. The lamp fell off and glass shards penetrated her body, making her bleed. She ignored it and quickly regained her feet, taking another step back in the process.

Matt used every persuasive technique he knew to talk himself out of helping her. He knew she could handle herself.

Her intruder sent punch and kick one after the other, thinking the farther he drove her back the better he was doing. But boy was he wrong.

Finally, the hidden doorknob was within reach of Nicole, and while dodging blows, she managed to snag it and send it flying open. In that, she accomplished two things. First, the door slung back and hit her attacker in the head. Second, she had her parents' attention.

"Nicole?" her mom asked, jumping to her feet. Zach was already up and out the door, pulling her safely behind him.

At the sight of Zach and Cam, the intruder turned and fled, leaving just the way he came. Cam took off after him, but Zach called her back. She didn't need to go and follow him where he might have others waiting. So instead, Cam picked up the phone and placed three calls, first to the local police, second to her boss at CIA, and third to Macey.

While Cam was on the phone, Zach, who's hand had never left Nicole's elbow that he had grabbed to pull her behind him with, now turned and dropped down to one knee so he was eye level with her.

"Daddy," she choked out, taking deep breaths to hold back her terrified sobs and shakes.

"It's Ok, baby. You're Ok," he said, grabbing her other elbow with his other hand. She purposely slowed her breathing down and made herself stop shaking. Whoever it was was gone, and there was nothing she could do now.

"Look at you," Zach said, sliding one hand down to hers and the other to her leg where blood was flowing freely and covering every inch of her skin.

"I can't feel it daddy," she managed to get out, her voice catching.

Zach quickly scooped her up into his arms and carried her into the kitchen where he gently sat her down at the table. Cam, who was still on the phone, pulled a washrag out from under the kitchen sink and handed it to Zach. He rinsed it with cool water and handed it to Nicole before grabbing another one and rising this one with warm water.

"Put that one to your forehead," Matt said from across the room. Zach brought her hand to her head so the cool towel could touch. She held it there, while staring at him as he took the other one and started cleaning off her leg.

Going from the top down, Zach managed to pull out over twenty pieces of fragmented glass and finally stop the bleeding. As he covered each cut in a thick coating of Neosporin, Nicole watched Matt.

"Wh..where were yo.o..ou?" she asked, stuttering something awful.

"Around the corner," Matt said carefully.

"Wh..why did..didn't you help mee..e?" she said, getting worked up.

"Cole, calm down," Zach said, placing hand on her knee.

"I was going to if you needed it. I wasn't going to let anything happen to you!" he defended himself.

"Look at me!" Nicole screeched, motioning to her legs. Zach shot a glance to Matt.

"Go upstairs," he mouthed, and Matt ducked his head and ran up the stairs. Zach picked Nicole up and set her on the counter top. "Calm down," he said, forcing her to look at him.

He quickly went through all the signs of a concussion, seeing only the ones that were noticeable earlier.

"Êtes-vous bien?" Zach asked, trying to get her out of shock and refocused.

"What?" Nicole asked, looking up at him.

After repeating it, Nicole shook her head. "Pas vraiment," she said, watching Cam pace the kitchen out of the corner of her eyes.

Behind the kitchen counter, Cam paced quickly with a cell phone clamped between her ear with Macey on the other line. She couldn't get over the fact that her own daughter had been chosen as one of the stalker's targets.

"I need to talk to you in person Macey," Cam was saying.

"Nicole," Zach was saying. No response. "Nicole," Zach tried again, following his daughter's gaze to his wife. He turned back to her. "Nicole Evelyn," he said, a little bit louder and sterner this time.

"Yes sir?" she asked, whipping her head around to face him. She suddenly reached up and held her head with her right hand, and Zach knew she was feeling dizzy from the concussion.

"Ok, I need you to tell me some things, Ok?" he asked, resting his hands on her knees. She nodded weakly, and he smiled, just a little.

"Okay. Can you describe to me his face?" he asked. Even being a spy and trained to notice things, the second glimpse he had gotten of the intruders face wasn't enough to notice anything.

"Long. Skinny. He had a," Nicole paused and closed her eyes. "He had a skinny pointy nose and wide set eyes. His eyes were blue. He was clean-shaven. He had a buzz-cut, but I could tell his hair was dark blonde." After a second of hesitation, she opened her eyes.

"Good girl," Zach said, tossing Cammie a sticky note with everything she had just said on it.

"Was that the stalker?" Nicole asked. Her eyes were still wide and her blood was still pumping through her ears.

"More than likely," Zach said quietly. Behind him, Cam set the phone down and Matt came pounding back down the steps.

"Zach, I need to talk to Macey in person," Cam said quietly, and with a careful glance at Nicole, Zach walked over to the far corner of the kitchen with Cam to talk. Matt walked over to Nicole.

"Go away," she said softly, looking down at her wiggling toes.

"No," Matt said. "I honestly wasn't going to let anything serious happen to you. I knew you could handle yourself."

"I'm freaking bruised and bloody and you don't consider that serious?"

"No, serious is like, getting kidnapped or close to death, or…"

"Good to know you would only help me if you thought I was going to die," Nicole said bitterly, wanting desperately to be able to jump down off the table without creating a migraine larger than life itself.

"Ok, that's not what I meant!" Matt said back.

"That's what you said!" Nicole countered.

"Since when did you become so literal?"

"Since you decided not to help me when I was being attacked!"

"You won, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but if I hadn't gotten to that door within a few seconds of when I did I wouldn't have!"

"No, if you were home alone, you wouldn't have let him back you up. You still would have won."

"You don't know that!"

"I know that you would have come close if you didn't," Matt said, crossing his arms.

"Whatever," Nicole said, crossing her own and watching her mom and dad's conversation in the corner.

"Dad," Matt said suddenly, walking over to talk to them without Nicole hearing. She sighed; it seemed that whenever her brother was home there were more secret discussions and more secrets in general-and she was the only one who wasn't in on them.

"Ok, that works," she heard her mom say, and she turned to wait for an explanation of what was happening.

"Macey and her family are coming over here so we can talk," Cam said, looking at Nicole. She nodded and swung her feet back and forth. She should probably shower, but she really didn't want to. Her hair, previously in a ponytail with her bangs held back in a braid, was now falling to the left side with loose strands hanging down and her face was stiff with dried blood.

"Help me down," Nicole said, her cheeks changing from white to pink as she realized she couldn't jump down from the counter without help. Matt walked over and easily picked her up and set her down on her feet. "Thanks," she said, walking slowly to the downstairs bathroom.

She flipped the light switch on and looked in the mirror. She grabbed a towel out of a basket and ran it under warm water. When it was soaked, she rung it out and gently started rubbing away some of the dried blood.

"Ow," she muttered to herself, stopping what she was doing. Deciding that all the dried blood was gone, she looked down at her clothes. Her shirt, the gym shirt she had on earlier, was splattered with even more blood than it had been before, and her shorts were practically tye-died there was so much blood mixed in.

"Nicole, come here," her dad said from the kitchen, and deciding her clothes looked alright enough, she walked into the kitchen without a second thought. Until she realized they already had company.

"Oh, hey," she managed to choke out before gathering her wits.

"Hi!" the lady who Nicole took to be Macey said. She had bright blue eyes and long dark hair and she was holding the hand of a tall man with blonde hair and blue eyes. Beside them stood two teenagers, one Nicole was quite familiar with, especially the bruise across the bridge of the swollen nose, the black eye, and the fat lip that matched hers.

"Hello Audrey," she added icily.

"Oh, Macey, this is Nicole, and this is Matt," Cam said, pulling her over to her. Matt, who was standing on the other side of Zach, nodded.

"This is Audrey, and this is Chris," Macey said, pointing to the girl and the guy, who looked to be about Matt's age.

"Hey man!" Chris said, meeting Matt halfway across the kitchen and giving him a highfive. Nicole didn't know Matt was friends with Audrey's brother; well to be honest, Nicole didn't know Audrey had a brother.

"We're going upstairs," Matt said, waving at everyone before the two of them ran up the stairs. Zach shot Nicole a pointed look, and Nicole frowned.

"Audrey, let's go up to my room," Nicole said, her voice dripping with sarcastic excitement, and the look from her father suggested she was going to regret it later.

While they were in Nicole's room, Cam and the others got down to business.

"Does Audrey know about the stalker?" Cam asked in a low voice, looking from Macey to her husband, Josh. They met Josh on one of their earlier missions, and less than a year later Macey and him got married.

"No," Macey said, shaking her head.

"Should we tell them now?" Zach asked. "The stalker is after them. Or, well, Nicole, anyways," he added.

Macey sighed. She brushed a strand of dark brown hair back behind her ear and looked at Josh.

"Sure, why not," Josh said.

"Alright, then. But first, what have ya'll got on the stalker?" Cam asked.

"Well, he's the guys we've been tracking for years," Macey said.

"Yeah, and now we have proof of what he can do and does, but that's not enough," Zach said.

"We have to trap him," Cam said.

"We'll need an amazing plan, then," Josh said, and they all nodded.

Upstairs in Nicole's bedroom, the two girls were sitting on her bed.

"I love your room," Audrey said. Nicole's room was bright green and purple, and her desk chair, comforter, beanbag, pillows, and bookshelf all matched.

"Thanks," she said. Nicole, who was now wearing grey Soffees and an Abercrombie tee since she had the opportunity to change, looked at Audrey a minute. Audrey stared back, taking in her black eye, busted lip, and swollen nose.

"Sorry about, well, ya know.." Audrey suddenly said, looking at Nicole. Nicole bit her lip subconsciously before realizing it was swollen and cut, and suddenly it started oozing blood.

"It's cool. Me too," she said. It was about as good as Nicole Evelyn Griffon ever came to apologizing.

"What happened?" Audrey asked suddenly, looking at Nicole's freshly cut legs.

"Um, well, some guy broke in, and I..uh…fell into a table and the lamp cut me before I got to Mom and Dad," Nicole said sheepishly, her cheeks flushing a bright pink.

"Whoa! I would have like, freaked out!" Audrey said. They laughed, and some of the built up tension between them seemed to evaporate.

"I didn't know you had a brother," Nicole said.

"I didn't know you had one either. But Chris went to our school up until last year," Audrey said.

"Oh, so did Matt. Now he goes to some insanely private boarding school our parents went to," Nicole said.

"No way, so does Chris! Is it Gallagher Blackthorne Academy?" Audrey asked.

"Ohmygosh! Yes! I guess that's how they knew each other," Nicole said, glad a piece of the puzzle was finally fitting in.

They talked for a while, realizing they were so much more alike than they had thought.

"Let's go back in the living room," Nicole said after a while.

"Ok," Audrey agreed.

As the girls walked in, the quiet conversation stopped.

"We're just getting a drink," Nicole said, noticing the awkward silence as they passed through.

"No, you're fine," Cam said, watching them. As she watched Nicole walk through the room, she sighed. Her daughter was only in sixth grade, yet she was unknowingly cast into the world of espionage with basically no training. She only hoped she wouldn't have to find out about it until it was really time; she wasn't going to like it in the first place, but if she found out before she got there it would make everything twenty times worse.

**Please hit the little button and let me know what you think!**


	3. Chapter 3: The Lies!

**Quick shoutouts:**

**.: I realize when i published the last chapter your name was cut off for some reason unknown to me. Anyways, thanks for your review of Chapter one!**

**angel4eva-15:: Thank you for coming back to read (and review(:) the last chapter!-and nah, none of my teachers are that cool, thanks :)**

**emmettluvrXD: Thank you for reading and reviewing but I have no idea what your review is/means...?**

**Kauyeung24: First of all, thank you for reviewing and telling me something you would like. That means a lot because usual reviews just say update-so thank you. Cammie/Zach stuff probably won't be in detail, BUT I have added a little into future chapters and I'll make sure to keep some in the story throughout. Thanks!**

**canterqueen: Why thank you. :)**

**I LOVE reviews, so those mentioned above and before, thank you sooo much! Here's the next chapter: Enjoy!**

**Chapter 3**

Nicole's last weeks of school went by faster than she thought possible. She got her Algebra grade up to a high A, and all her other grades were now A's, too; she had learned French and was now studying Latin with her mom and dad, and her father was pushing her to get as fit as possible through sports saying it would help her greatly at Gallagher.

Audrey and Nicole texted (Nicole had gotten her phone back), emailed, talked, and visited each other nonstop, even after school let out. As the first weeks of summer passed, there wasn't a time when they weren't together. They ran trails in the morning, went to softball practice, ate lunch, went to the pool, and then finished at someone's house for a lesson in foreign language and a great dinner before crashing on a bed.

Their rooms began to be filled with a mix of each other's things and seeing the other one's shoes at the front door was beginning to be a common sight. Macey took them shopping constantly, taught them how to use makeup-especially how to make one look like someone completely different.

Zach pushed them through sports practices and home workouts with Matt and Chris, and afterwards, he gave them ice-packs, ibuprophen, and even occasionally massages to keep from cramping their muscles.

Cam and Josh worked with them on foreign languages and the basic skill of noticing things. They worked on improving their memory and other basic intellectual challenges.

They all worked together to ensure that they would get 'accepted' into Gallagher Blackthorne Academy, so when they both received a letter the same day saying they got 'accepted', it wasn't a real surprise.

The night they received the letters, they sat on Macey's back porch, eating icecream for the first time all summer in celebration. Nicole was wearing short jean shorts and a blue and green striped spaghetti tank with just-washed caramel color highlighted hair and a fresh purple painted fingernails. Audrey was wearing white shorts and a pink strapless shirt. Her red-brown hair hung in ringlets, a skill Macey had just taught them how to do with a curling iron. Her bare toes bent around the porch step as they sat looking at the stars.

"This is so awesome!" Nicole said, taking a bite of her icecream.

"The sky or being accepted into Gallagher?" Audrey joked.

"You know what!" Nicole said, picking up a cushion off the nearby chair and throwing it at her best friend's face.

"Hey, hey!" she said, ducking. The pillow skimmed the top of her head and hit the sliding glass door with a loud thump.

"Girls!" Macey half scolded from the kitchen, and they busted into a round of giggles.

Inside, the phone rang, and Macey picked it up. "Hello?"

"Mace, get the girls to Gallagher, now!" Cam was saying, out of breath and barely audible.

"What's going on Cam?" Macey said seriously, and Audrey and Nicole stopped laughing and turned their heads to watch Macey in the kitchen.

"Matt and Chris are on their way, just do it!" Cam said.

"Cameron Anne, tell me what is going on this instant!" Macey said, walking over and opening the screen door, rushing the girl's back inside the house.

"The house," Cam started, but she interrupted herself with a loud cough. "The house was set on fire and is surrounded," Cam managed to choke out, and Macey immediately clamped the phone between her shoulder and her ear and pushed the girls up to her bedroom.

"I'll be there as soon as I can," Macey said quickly before hanging up.

"Macey, what's wrong with Mom?" Nicole asked, clenching and unclenching her fists with nervousness.

"Josh!" Macey said into the phone after dialing a number. "Get to Zach's house, now!" she said, and then hung up.

"Everything's fine," Macey lied, opening her closet and pulling out two large duffle bags. Inside were some emergency equipment the boys would know how to use and some quilts, just in case.

"Go fill these up with clothes and makeup. Quickly," Macey said, handing each of them a bag and pushing them towards Audrey's room.

"What's wrong?" Nicole asked again, sensing the tension and the rush, knowing Macey was lying.

"Nicole, just do it!" Macey said, sprinting back down the stairs and into the kitchen. She picked up her cell phone from the counter and dialed a number she hadn't used all summer.

"Solomon," came the response on the other side.

"It's me," Macey started. "Cam's house is on fire and they're surrounded, so we're sending the kids early," she said.

"I'll meet them at the subway station," he said, suddenly sounding business like and official. "Go help Cam Macey," he added, and then they hung up.

"Girls, let's go! Now!" she yelled, and bare feet came flying down the stairs faster than she could finish speaking. They slid on flipflops and rushed out to the car. With their bags on their laps, Macey sped all the way to the train station. Chris and Matt were standing out front with four tickets in their hands looking around.

"Ok, where are we going?" Audrey asked, spotting them. They opened the car doors slowly, staring down their brothers.

"Sorry babe, can't explain right now. Listen to your brother," she said, kissing the top of Audrey's head. She gave Nicole and hug and sent them off before climbing back into her car and driving off.

"Matt!" Nicole yelled, throwing the shoulder strap to her bag over her shoulder and running to meet her brother. "What is going on?" she asked, panic seeping into her voice.

"Calm down," he said, grabbing her wrist and leading her to a loading metro. Chris and Audrey were close behind.

"Chris where are we going?" Audrey asked as they took a seat.

"The Academy," he said, looking out the window to avoid meeting their gaze.

"What? Why?" Nicole asked, looking at Matt. "Matt, what is going on?" she asked again, this time panic gone and anger slowly replacing it.

"Uncle Joe is meeting us at the metro station; he'll explain everything," Matt said, rubbing his hand through his hair and spiking it up.

"Why can't you?" Nicole asked.

"Nicole, just be patient for once in your life," Matt said with an edge, and Nicole gave up. That tone usually meant she had made him mad and he wasn't going to tell her anything.

The hour long metro ride let off in the small town of Roseville. The girls carried off their bags, and the guys shouldered backpacks they had been given before leaving the house.

Joe Solomon was waiting for them at the door to go outside, and he immediately held out a finger to shush Nicole and Audrey up.

He led them to a limo where they all piled in and sat comfortably. "Wait until we get to the school," he said, and Nicole bit her lip.

The limo ride was short, about ten minutes, and as they pulled up to the school, Nicole and Audrey's mouth gaped open in awe. The large building surrounded by a barn and woods was breathtaking. Ivey lined the walls and the rock wall guarding it, and the large doors burst open as soon as the limo stopped moving. Standing in the doorway was Rachel Morgan.

"Grandma!" Nicole said, getting out. Shouldering her duffle, she ran up the steps and gave her grandmother a hug; she hadn't seen her in over a year and half.

"Good to see you darling," she said, motioning the four kids through the door and into the hall.

"Why's the hall…" Matt and Chris started, but they stopped when Solomon roughly pushed them further down the hallway. All the artifacts of Gallagher and Blackthorne were hidden inside the walls or underground, and all that remained were normal school banners and trophies.

"Now, can someone please tell us what's going on?" Nicole and Audrey asked, simultaneously, and Solomon and Mrs. Morgan lead them up a grand staircase into a small office furnished with a lovely desk, a chair, and a large couch. The four teenagers sank into the couch, their bags deposited at their feet, and Solomon leaned against the wall while Mrs. Morgan took her seat behind her desk.

"Ok, girls, first of all, Welcome to Gallagher Blackthorne Academy for Exceptional Young Students," Mrs. Morgan started off by saying. "And welcome back, boys," she added. "As for why you're here this early, well you're parents ran into some trouble," she started.

"Like what?" Nicole asked.

"I can see you're a lot like your father, still, Nicole," Mrs. Morgan said with a small smile. "Someone tried to kill you all," she said, and Nicole's eyebrows met in the center of her head as a small V appeared between her eyes. Audrey just sat back, like someone had delivered a blow to her midsection, and the guys leaned forward, resting their elbows on their knees and their chins in their hands.

"Who?" Matt asked.

"Girls," Mrs. Morgan started, looking from Nicole to Audrey and already knowing the answer to this question she was about to ask, so she changed her mind. "Why your parents kept all this from you this summer, I don't know, but I have received word that they will be here in under ten minutes, so I'll wait and let them explain," she said.

"What?" Audrey asked, words going in one ear and out the other.

"Here, I'll take you to your room," Solomon said, getting up and ushering the two out the door. The guys stayed to hear the whole story.

"Once school starts you'll have two more roommates, but for now, it's just you. This is your room," Solomon said while leading them down the halls and coming across a row of doors. The third door on the left he opened, and they walked in. There were two sets of bunks, one on each side of a window along the back wall. A closet stood to the left with a two dressers and a chest, and on the right wall sat an empty bookshelf, a desk, and four beanbags. Under the window between the beds was a nightstand, on it resting a lamp and an alarm clock.

"I'll come get you when your parents arrive," Solomon said before turning and walking out. Immediately the girls got to work, hanging and folding clothes, putting makeup and bathroom items away, and finding some quilts in the bottom of their bags that they laid across their beds to make the room look lived in.

When they were done, they pushed their bags under their beds and found an Expo marker to write their names on the little board on the outside of their door. While they were writing their names, footsteps could be heard coming down the hall, and Nicole looked up to see her parents, dirty with soot and blood, wearily coming towards them.

"Macey and Josh are downstairs Audrey," Cam called, and Audrey left, running to see her own parents.

"Are you Ok?" Nicole asked, looking at her parents. They were black from soot from head to toe, and where they weren't black they were red with smeared blood.

"Were fine," Cam said.

"Then what happened?" Nicole asked, sliding her hands to her hips.

"Ok, well let's go inside your room," Zach said, pushing open the door and leading them inside. Once inside, Nicole sat on the edge of her bed.

"Ok, first of all, this school isn't just for 'exceptional young students'," Cam started.

"Then what is it?" Nicole asked.

"Gallagher Blackthorne Academy is a school for spies," Zach said.

"Spies? As in like, real, CIA spies?" Nicole asked.

"Yes, that's where we work. The CIA," Cam said carefully observing her daughter's expressions.

"Your real last name is Goode, not Griffon; I am not a lawyer, I'm a CIA agent undercover; the man that broke in the house before school let out was a man we've been tracking for fifteen years; this whole ordeal is a secret; the reason you were sent here right now is because the house was set on fire and we were surrounded by guys who wanted us dead," Zach kept talking and talking, explaining.

"So basically," Nicole started, anger building inside her, "my whole life has been one big lie?"

"No, that's not true," Cam started, but Nicole was already on her feet and at the door to her room.

"Yes it is and you know it! Of all the times you told me not to lie, my whole life is one big lie!" With those parting words, Nicole ran out, slamming the door behind her. She ran down the hall and turned corners through the school, trying to find somewhere to hide. Spotting a staircase, she ran up it and found herself in a tower. She closed the small wooden door behind her and sank to the floor with her back against the wall. It seemed the world was spinning around her and she couldn't trust anyone.

Hours later, there was a knock on the door, and then someone walked in. It was Uncle Joe.

"Knock, knock," he said, joining Nicole on the floor.

"Go away," she said, resting her chin on her kneecaps.

"You know, everyone's looking for you," he said, ignoring her.

"I don't care," she said.

"Cole, it's not the end of the world," he said.

"No, it's just that like everyone around me lied to me about like my whole life. Including you!" she said, her voice raising.

"I never lied to you, sweetheart," he said.

"Bull," she said, turning away and looking out the window.

"Nicole," Solomon started.

"Just go away," she interrupted, crossing her arms over her knees and resting her head on them. As Solomon got up to leave, he noticed a single alligator tear make its way free and slide down her cheek. Rather than draw attention to it, Nicole let it fall, creating a small wet circle on her sleeve. Solomon quietly left, letting the door close loudly behind him. Nicole wiped away the tears that had threatened to escape once she was alone again.

A little while later, Nicole's thoughts were interrupted by the wooden door being pushed open and yet another head poking its way through. The intruder came and sat down beside her.

"You knew, too," was the first thing Nicole said.

"Ev, I couldn't tell you," Matt said.

"Yes you could have! You knew!" she said.

"I didn't know until I started seventh grade last year, just like you," Matt said. "They didn't lie because they wanted to, Ev. They lied to protect us."

"That doesn't make it right," Nicole said.

"Neither does hiding in the tower away from everyone," Matt said.

"You're a big help," she said sarcastically.

"Well, be realistic here Nicole. This line of work is dangerous. If they would have told us before we were protected by Gallagher, we could have been killed. Heck, we could have been killed without knowing. Nicole, this line of work isn't a joke; you can't spend days being mad over something they had to do. They are leaving to go back to their op tonight, you might want to tell them goodbye," Matt said, leaving. The door closed loudly behind him, and Nicole watched him go, staring at the door once it was closed.

A few minutes later, she got up and walked silently down the stairs.

"You can't make her understand; she has to learn in her own time," she overheard her grandma saying, and as she poked her head around the corner, she saw her mom and dad standing at the front door, leaving. They had changed clothes and showered, and now all that remained of the previous soot and blood were a few scabs and their dirty tennis shoes. Macey, Josh, Audrey, and Chris were nowhere in sight.

"Wait!" she said quietly. Slipping out of the shadows, she ran over and gave her mom and dad a quick hug.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, low enough for only her parents to hear. "I love you," she added, and Zach bent down to her level.

"See you soon, Ev. Be good," he said, looking pointedly at her grandma, meaning don't- get -sent to -the -principal's- office -once -school -starts.

"I promise," Nicole said, this time at regular volume. After one more hug, Cam and Zach left, and Nicole turned back to Uncle Joe, her grandmother, and her brother.

"You better be keeping that promise," her grandma joked, and Nicole smiled.

"I'm good at keeping promises," she said, looking at Uncle Joe.

"I'm proud of you shorty," he said, and she smiled. They walked away, and she was left with Matt in the large hall.

"Matt, I'm…I'm sorry?" she said, making it sound more like a question. Apologizing wasn't something she usually did.

"It's cool sis," he said, slinging his arm around her shoulder. "It's cool."

**Please review and let me know what you think! Oh, and if anyone could list some of the classes they take as 7thgraders and who teaches them, i would really appreciate it. :)**


	4. Chapter 4: Roomies

**angel4eva-15: Thanks again! Here's the update!**

**.: your name was cut off last time too! sorry, i dont know why its doing that. thanks for the review!**

**Chapter 4**

"Nicole Evelyn Goode," a voice said from out in the hallway, and Audrey looked at Nicole with raised eyebrows.

"Audrey Brianna McHenry," the voice said again, and Nicole returned the look, setting down her magazine and pulling out her ipod earbuds, leaving the music playing at a low level through the speakers.

"I swear I didn't do anything," Nicole said, holding her hands up. Audrey narrowed her eyes, and Nicole laughed. "Really, I didn't," she said, and then added in a whisper, "yet."

Audrey let a grin escape her lips, ending the blaming game.

They both stood up and walked to the door. Standing outside in the hall were two girls, both gorgeous beyond compare. One was skinny and tan, with thin blonde hair and brown eyes; everything about her was thin, and her glasses were slipping off her nose. The headband holding back her hair was crooked, but somehow the disheveled look worked for her. She was wearing jeans with Sperry's and a loose fitted spaghetti strap tank, revealing her swimsuit tan lines. The girl beside her had a darker complexion, and her brown eyes seemed to rip whoever she looked at over the coals. Her brown hair was short, resting on her shoulders, and curly. She had a clip holding some back. She was wearing short jean shorts and an old Tshirt tucked into her back pocket with flipflops. Solomon was standing behind them.

"Nicole, Audrey, I would like you to meet your roommates," Solomon said.

"Wait, school doesn't start for another, like, week and half," Audrey said, popping her gum.

"They're here because their parents had to help yours with some things," Solomon said, and Nicole peeked out around the door to see if the walls were lined with Gallagher pieces or normal school banners. The Gallagher pieces were out, so Nicole assumed their parents were spies as well.

"Enjoy," Solomon said, turning and walking down the hall. Nicole and Audrey moved over to let the other two into the room.

"I'm Audrey," Audrey said, sinking to a seat on her bed, and Nicole did the same, picking up her ipod and turning it off.

"That makes you Nicole," the thin girl said to her, and Nicole nodded.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"I'm Lauren Alison Anderson," the girl replied, walking over to the window. On the way, she tripped on the rug and went sprawling forward. "Oopsie daisies," she said, and we all laughed quietly. "Can I have a bottom bunk?" she asked shyly, and Nicole smiled.

"Looks like you might need one," she joked, pulling off her blankets and pillow and throwing them to the top bunk.

"I'll take top," the other girl said to Audrey, and Audrey nodded.

"Whatever floats your boat," she said, laying back.

"So, who're you?" Nicole asked.

The girls threw her things up to the top bunk like Nicole had and went back to her suitcase. "Alexis Riley Newman, but if you call me Alexis I'll kill you, so don't," she said.

"So what do you go by?" Audrey asked.

"Lexie or Lex, whatever you like," she said, hanging clothes up in the large closet.

"Do you guys know each other?" Nicole asked, watching as they each unpacked and moved in separate directions.

"No," they both said, and we all looked at each other.

"I'm guessing ya'll's parents are spies too?" Audrey asked.

"Some of the best," Lexie replied, and Nicole smiled.

"What's your mom's name?" she asked, thinking she might have heard her mom mention them in her stories about Gallagher, when of course, the spy information was never disclosed.

"Rebecca Baxter, but she goes by Bex," Lexie said, looking at Nicole. "Why?"

"This is so weird! My mom is Cameron Morgan; my mom and your mom were like best friends when they went here! And Audrey's mom!"

"Wait, my mom's Elizabeth Sutton," the other girl exclaimed, and Nicole burst into a giant smile.

"This is so cool," she said.

The others recalled stories their parents had told them about their time in school, and then suddenly, it clicked.

"Wow, I'm sure this was a setup," Audrey said, staring at the bottom of the top bunk mattress.

"Um, totally," Lauren said, taking a seat beside Nicole on what would now be her bed.

"Well, it's cool I guess," Lexie said, and Nicole noticed she had a slight British accent.

"Do you guys have any siblings?" Nicole asked, thinking of her plan she was about to tell Audrey about.

"I have twin brothers a grade ahead of me," Lauren said, but Lexie just shook her head.

"That's cool," Audrey said.

"What about you guys?" Lexie asked.

"I have a brother a grade up; his name's Christopher, but he goes by Chris," Audrey said.

"My brother's in the same grade; his name's Matthew, but he goes by Matt," Nicole said.

Rachel Morgan was sitting in her desk chair, papers stacked neatly on her desk, her computer asleep. She was thinking about her granddaughter. With any luck (and common sense on Nicole's part), she was hoping she wouldn't catch her only granddaughter being her normal defiant self. The weeks that had passed since her daughter had left them at the school had been pretty quiet. Nicole and Audrey spent most of their time in either their room or the P&E barn getting exercise. The boys roamed the grounds, staying out of trouble.

As she was pushing a strand of light brown hair behind her hear, a familiar but totally unexpected face shoved her door opened. Standing in her doorway was a very out of breath fourteen year old.

"What's wrong Matt?" she asked, immediately getting to her feet and rushing over to him.

"Um, Dad's at the front door," he said, still breathing hard. Rachel's bet was he had been walking along the rock wall that bordered Gallagher's property when he had spotted his father.

"Who's with him?" she asked, grabbing his wrist and leading him down the hall after her.

"Josh. Macey. Others, I couldn't tell," he said. His breathing finally evened out, and she dropped his wrist, letting him keep up with her on his own.

"How many Matt?" she asked, taking the steps two at a time.

"Him, five, maybe six others. Maybe seven," he said.

"Go tell your Uncle Joe to come out here," she said, sending him off in the opposite direction when she got to the door.

"Chris went to get him," he said, keeping pace with her.

Behind them, many sets of footsteps were coming down the stairs. "Stay in here," she said to the kids before rushing out the front door, Solomon hot on her heels.

In the grass yards from the front door lay seven very out of breath young adults. One or two seemed to be unconscious.

"Rachel," one said, sitting up slowly from where he was lying in the grass. His green eyes were all that could be made out beneath the layer of filth covering him from head to toe.

"Zach, what happened?" she asked, and the others who were still conscious slowly sat up. Blood oozed down bodies, smearing the grime that coated them.

"Long story," he said, coughing.

"Where's Cam?" Rachel asked, looking at the disfigured bodies. Bex, Macey, Liz, and their husbands all seemed to be lying there, but only Cam was missing.

"She was…she was right behind…." Zach stopped talking, taking in the fact that his wife, his Gallagher Girl, had somehow been left behind, had somehow escaped his protective hold into the dangerous grasp of the COC.

"I don't know," he said quietly, giving up on an explanation. Not knowing was something that didn't sit well with Zachary Goode, but with his health the way it was, Solomon and Rachel both knew they couldn't help him deal at the moment.

"Dad!" someone shouted from behind them, and Rachel watched as Nicole broke free from her brother's strong grasp and came running across the yard, Audrey close on her heels to see her own father, who was one of the few still laying unmoving in the grass.

Solomon caught them both at full speed and stopped them. "I thought Mrs. Morgan said to stay in the building," he muttered, holding them back as they struggled past. Behind them, Lauren's brothers were holding onto her arms, and Matt and Chris as automatically moved to watch Alexis; no one else was getting in trouble on their behalf.

Solomon practically drug the two girls back to the front door.

"Stay right here," he said in a voice Nicole had never heard before, not even when he had yelled at her and Matt for doing something stupid during his summer visits.

Her fight reflex was failing as sudden burst of emotion turned to nervous dread. Matt grabbed hold of her, and she didn't struggle to fight free. Instead, she laid her head on his shoulder as her grandmother helped those able to walk through the doors and to the infirmary, and Solomon carried those unconscious past.

"What happened?" Lexie asked, standing straight and stock still.

"I have no idea," everyone said together, and Nicole reached out and took her hand, realizing she had no one to cling too.

"Nicole Evelyn, when I tell you to do something I expect you to do it," her grandmother was scolding, but Nicole was staring past her, out the window.

"Yes ma'am," she said quietly, playing with her fingers. She had been in her grandmother's office for twenty minutes, all of which consisted of being scolded and yelled at and warned that if her behavior and defiance didn't change she would have an awfully hard first year at Gallagher.

"Evelyn," her grandmother sighed, exasperated. Nicole turned to look at her. Her family only tended to use her middle name if she was in major trouble.

"Yes Grandma?" she asked.

"Are you even listening to me?" her grandmother responded, and Nicole thought it best to lie.

"Yes ma'am," she said.

"Ok," she said, doubtful. "You can leave," she added, looking at the door. Nicole stood, but she didn't want to leave yet.

"Is Dad Ok?" she asked.

"He'll be fine," was the response.

"Can I see him?"

"Not yet."

"What about mom?" she asked.

Mrs. Morgan was silent for a moment, she finally sighed, "I don't know."

Nicole left silently.

"Did you get chewed?" Matt asked, joining her on her fast paced walk down the hall.

"Basically," Nicole said emotionless. Matt, even though he was tired of her attitude, tried to cheer her up.

"Come on, it'll all be fine," he said.

"What if Mom can't come back? What if Dad was like, seriously hurt or something? You can't say that," Nicole said, stopping at the door to her room. Matt just shook his head and turned around, walking back the way he had come. Nicole waited at the door for him to disappear around the corner, and then took off running silently down the hall.

She jumped a full flight of stairs and dashed behind the corner, not even breathing hard. Slowing her pace, she came to the door to the infirmary. She poked her head in the door, and her father caught her immediately.

"Nicole," he said quietly, and she felt her cheeks go red. "Come here," he said. He was sitting up in a hospital type bed with an IV in his arm and a few bandages over his arms and hands. He had stitches across his eyebrow.

Nicole walked over to him slowly and stopped once she was beside him. "You're not supposed to be in here, are you?" he asked, his emerald eyes twinkling.

"No, sir, but…"

"Nicole, there are no such thing as excuses," he said, grabbing her hand.

"Yessir," she said quickly.

"You're worried," Zach observed, reaching up and placing a finger between her eyes where a wrinkle forms and her eyebrows met when she was upset.

Nicole bit her bottom lip but shook her head no.

"Hm. Tell me about your new roommates," Zach said, changing the subject.

"Ok. Lauren is Liz's daughter; she's like super skinny, super smart, and super clumsy," she started.

"Just like her mom," Zach said, laughing. "Who else?"

"Then there's Lexie. She's like a super tough hilarious version of Audrey, only she's not as into clothes and makeup. She's really smart, but she tends to lack common sense."

"There's definitely a mix of Bex and Grant there," he muttered, smiling. "So, what's got you worried Ev?" he asked, catching her off-guard before she could put her walls up.

"You. Mom. This whole, spy-school-runs-in-the-family-you-could-possibly-die-thing."

"Well, let me tell you something," he said, sitting up straighter. "I am perfectly fine," he said, and Nicole cast him a sideways glance. "Seriously, I am. I'll be out of here tonight, and probably off of Gallagher grounds within a week. And as for your mother-she's strong and smart. She could last a while wherever she is, and we're going to find her, so you have no need to worry."

Nicole offered a weak smile in response to his trying to cheer her up, and Zach frowned.

"Don't worry about meeting anyone's expectations, Short-Stuff," he teased, running his hand through her hair. "Set some for yourself and meet them, but do me a favor and stop getting in trouble," he said.

"Ok, but I'm not in…"

"Nicole Evelyn Goode! When I say something I expect you to listen! Didn't I just go through this with you?" a very familiar voice, who had in fact just gone over this with her, said from behind them, and Nicole offered a small smile to her father, squeezed his hand in goodbye, and walked away.

"Sorry Grandma," Nicole said, leaving the infirmary.

"You should be!" her grandmother yelled after her, and Nicole ducked her head and caught her father's eye out of the corner of her own. He winked, and Nicole winked back, trying her hardest not to laugh. He knew just how to make her smile.

**Please leave mewith a review! :)**


	5. Chapter 5: Just a little romance

**Chapter 5**

"Child, what am I going to do with you!" Nicole's grandmother said, throwing her hands up in the air. Two weeks into classes at Gallagher, Nicole had earned more than her fair share of extra-credit in P&E and failing grades with Madame Dabney.

"I'm sorry Gram," Nicole said, honestly feeling some amount of guilt for breaking her promise to her not only her parents, but to her uncle. "Please don't tell Dad," she said, practically begging.

Not only had her uncle Joe raked her over the coals time and time again already, her father was beginning to notice how much time she spent with her grandmother. She couldn't stand to lose whatever small ounce of trust her parents still had in her by breaking a promise about behavior.

"Nicole, I can't promise you that," her grandmother started. She was interrupted as someone opened the door to her office.

Nicole didn't bother turning around-most teachers knew what the back of her head looked like, and the students were beginning to recognize it themselves. If one thing was for certain, Nicole Evelyn Goode was not a Chameleon, if anything, she was the exact opposite. Although a lot of personal traits from her mother were noticeable, Nicole was more like a rainbow, wide open for everyone to see, yet she still had the colors of her mother. In fact, Rainbow was her codename, not that she needed one at the moment.

"Sorry, Rachel, but I couldn't stand him anymore. I'll let you deal with him, I have another to take to the infirmary," a very familiar voice said, and Nicole felt the need to sink down into the couch. She felt eyes on her, and she turned her head enough to see the emerald green staring her down. He frowned, pushed a boy in, and left, letting the door slam behind him.

"You're in for a good time," her grandmother said sarcastically, and Nicole fake-smiled.

"Yeah, thanks," she said, scooting over from the center of the couch so the new kid could take a seat. As he did, she recognized him. He was kid in her own grade, Bradley Davis. All his friends called him Brad. Brad was tall, although everyone was tall to Nicole, who stood only at four foot seven inches. He had semi-shaggy dark golden hair, and his eyes were a deep chocolate brown that seemed to melt you away. Nicole happened to have already developed a crush on this guy, and it didn't help that he seemed to be in trouble almost as much as her and that when in P&E when it was really hot he could take his shirt off and he had a perfect set of eight pack abs.

"Oh, hey Cole," he said. Nicole smiled. A lot of the kids around had started calling her Cole, and she didn't have a problem with it.

"Hey Brad," she said.

"Bradley, what'd you do to irritate Mr. Goode?" Nicole's grandmother asked, rearranging their attention back onto the reason they were in there.

"Well, uh, there was a, um, food fight? In the Dining Hall, ma'am, and I, uh," as he talked, Nicole realized how much she loved how he said 'uh' like most teenagers said 'like'.

"Whoa! There was a foot fight? And I MISSED it?" Nicole shouted, breaking through her own reverie.

"Yeah man, I kept looking for you, trying to pelt you with spaghetti, but no one could find you! No one could believe you'd miss out on a food fight," Brad said, grinning from ear to ear.

"Yeah, well, I was trapped in here, or else I would have been one of the firsts to sling food at someone!" Nicole said.

"Of course you would," her grandmother said quietly, rolling her eyes and shaking her head. "Bradley, continue your story," she said.

"Well, ma'am, that other kid, James, and I, um, got in a little bit of an argument?, and um, well, he through the first punch and it got pretty bad so a few of the guys started taking sides, and then food was thrown, and then um, well, here I am," he finished.

"Wait, so you didn't start it, but you were the cause of it?" my grandmother asked, and I covertly gave him a thumbs up and a small smile. I saw him grin back out of the corner of my eyes.

"Yes, ma'am," he said, and my grandmother frowned.

"Well, Nicole, it seems I just found you a punishment," her grandmother finally said, and Nicole looked up quickly. "Somebody has to clean up the Dining Hall, and since you two are in trouble the day of, it looks like it's your responsibility."

"Seriously?" Nicole asked, sitting up straighter.

"Yes, seriously. I would say go change and get started; ya'll aren't going to bed until that hall is clean." With that, she looked down at her desk and started writing on a file. Nicole looked at Brad and he shrugged, and they stood up and walked out, shutting the door quietly behind them.

"Well, I guess I'll see you in there," Brad said, grinning, before turning and walking the opposite direction, towards the guys' rooms. Nicole waited until he rounded the corner before sprinting off towards her room, desperate to 1. Get out of the skirt that was uniform at Gallagher, and 2. Tell the girls of the wonderful time she was about to have, and 3. Go spend time with the one boy she actually didn't mind looking at.

Nicole dashed into her room, startling her three best friends who all seemed to be squeaky clean from a fresh shower.

"Hey Nicole! You missed…"

"A food fight, yeah I know, I'm deeply depressed. Can you guys uh, help me look semi-decent, but not like I'm trying to look decent?"

"What?" Lexie asked, walking over to the closet, quickly joined by Audrey, queen bee in the fashion department, seeing as her mother was a top designer and makeup specialist.

"Explain," Lauren said, setting down the book in her hand and looking very interested.

"Ok, well I got in trouble. Again. And then while I was in my grandmother's office, Bradley Davis got sent in for being the cause of a food fight I guess? I'm not real sure actually, because that doesn't seem like a legit reason to make my father agitated enough to make him take you to my grandma, but whatever. Anyways, our punishment is to clean the Dining Hall, just the two of us, so I want to look semi-nice, but I can't look overboard because like, we're cleaning up thrown food."

"Oooooo," Lauren said, and Nicole picked up the nearest pillow and threw it at her.

"Gasp! I didn't know Nicole Evelyn was actually girly enough to like a guy!" Lexie said in fake astonishment, covering her mouth with her hand.

"I thought you thought all the guys here were too ugly to stand!" Audrey said from deep inside the closet, and suddenly their bedroom door burst open.

"That better of been what she said!" Matthew said, waltzing into their room.

"Ew, Matthew! Go away!" Audrey said without even turning around.

"Be nice Audrey," her own brother said, entering the room as well. Behind him were Lauren's two brothers, Page and Michael.

"Why are you guys here?" Lexie asked, sliding her hands to her hips.

"Go away!" Lauren said, pushing her small wire framed glasses back up on her nose.

"Maybe we should," Page started, turning slowly to walk back out the door.

"Yeah, guys, they just won't know," Chris added, starting to leave, too.

"Fine, I'll bite," Audrey said after a second of silence. "Know what?"

"That's what we thought," Michael said, crossing his arms and leaning back against the doorframe.

"Are you going to tell us or are you all just going to stand there?" Nicole asked, crossing her own arms and tapping her foot.

"Oh, right," Page said, like they had forgotten.

"Our parent's our leaving the school," Matthew said, and everyone dropped what they were doing.

"Like, at the moment?" Audrey asked, reappearing from inside the closet.

"No, like in a million years!" Chris said. "Yes right now!"

They all ran out of the room, slamming it closed behind them. Audrey, after delivering a blow to the back of her brother's head, sprinted after the girls to catch up. It took the group less than fifteen seconds to clear a flight of stairs and four hallways, sliding to a stop in front of group of adults about to leave.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Who said you could leave!" Audrey asked with a play smile, sliding her hands to her petite hips.

"Well, aren't you sassy?" her dad joked, giving her a hug.

"Be safe," she whispered, and he nodded.

"Always," he said, smiling. Her and her brother switched places, each hugging the other parent.

"Keep them stocked with cute outfits," Macey joked to her only daughter, and Audrey smiled.

"On it," she said, backing away from the hug. She joined Chris a few steps back and watched as they walked out into a limo.

Lexie ran straight to her parents, engulfing herself in a hug by the two of them.

"You'll come back, right?" she asked, knowing perfectly well they couldn't promise that, but they did anyways.

Lauren, Page, and Michael all received hugs and last words of advice before they, too, watched their parents head off into the limo.

"Nicole, do me a favor and stop stressing out your grandmother!" Zach said, enveloping her in a hug.

"I've done learned not to promise you that, but, I'll try, Ok?" she whispered in his ear, and he nodded.

"Deal." He released her and looked at Matt. "Don't let her get in any serious trouble, you hear me?" he asked, and Matthew nodded.

"Yessir," he said, shooting Nicole a look. That was a lot to ask of one kid, considering who Nicole was.

"Be good," Zach said with a smile, releasing his son and standing up. With a last wave, he turned and walked to the limo by himself, reminding not only himself, but everyone else, that Cam's whereabouts were unknown.

Once the quiet moment had passed and the limo had pulled off the property, life at Gallagher returned to its previous state. The girls ran back to help Nicole find and outfit, and the guys went back to finding something to do in their free time.

"Ok, here!" Audrey screeched as soon as the bedroom door was closed again. "Hurry! You've lost time!"

"Ok, Ok," Nicole said, slipping out of her skirt and into a pair was her own old dark was jeans. The knees were faded dramatically from hours of scrubbing grass, dirt, blood, and mud of them, and the bottoms were frayed in tiny little pieces from years of wear and dragging the ground.

With the comfortable denim on, Lexie threw her an old, almost too small, character T, home to Popeye the Sailor Man.

Lauren, who had joined them at the closet, added the finishing touch by tossing her a pair of Converse. After lacing them up tight, she glanced at herself in the mirror. Her hair, in spiral curls around her face, was starting to frizz. Lexie came up behind her and pulled her curls into a ponytail, and Audrey sprinkled her face with a thin layer of foundation to hide some stray acne and redness.

"Am I good?" Nicole asked, twirling for their approval.

"Definitely," they all three said, slapping hands and smiling.

"Thanks, I'll see you guys later!" Nicole said, running by them and sprinting down to the dining hall. Brad would most likely already be there; with the goodbye and everything, she had wasted eight valuable minutes.

Stopping at the door, she took a deep breath to calm her breathing, brushed back a piece of hair that had already fallen out, and walked in.

"Ew!" she yelled, her voice echoing off the walls.

Food was smeared along the walls and the floor, and the tables were coated. Sitting on the nearest table were buckets, scrapers, towels, a mop, broom, and many other cleaning materials. Sitting next to all that was Brad.

"Pretty nasty isn't it?" he asked, and Nicole blushed.

"Yeah, it totally sucks I missed it," she said, looking around. It took some serious arm to smash the food the way most of it was.

They both picked up some cleaning tools and got to work.

"So, how are you liking Gallagher?" he asked.

"It's alright. I like P&E," she said, smiling.

"Figures," he said, laughing.

"Yeah, but it's too easy to get into trouble. And the uniforms suck," she added.

"Oh, I know what you mean! And really? A lot of the girls like them," he said.

"I hate them. I think skirts look ridiculous," she said.

"Oh, well I think you look far from ridiculous," he said, his cheeks slowly reddening. She looked over at him and felt herself blush as well.

"Oh, well, thanks," she said, stuttering.

Two hours later, Solomon poked his head through the door to see how they were coming along. Music was blaring from an iPod laid on a table, and down the aisle, Brad was twirling Nicole. They were both laughing.

"_Back door cracked, we don't need a key; we get in for free. No VIP sleaze_," Nicole was singing, well, more like yelling. She grabbed Brad's hand and pulled him through a maze of tables before they got to the back left hand corner, the only place not sparkly clean.

"_Drink that kool-aid! Follow my lead_!" she kept singing, and Brad was twirling her around. They both were laughing so hard, Nicole had tears running down her cheeks. She started wiping off the table, but continued singing to the iPod.

"_Now you're one of us, you're coming with me_," Nicole yelled again, and this time Solomon cracked a smile from his hiding place in the doorway.

"_It's time to kill the lights and shut the DJ down! This place about to—Tonight we're taking over, no one's getting out,_" Nicole continued, and by the time the chorus broke out, the whole table was clean.

"_This place about to blow! Blow!"_ Brad joined her, and Nicole's laugh could be heard from all the way across the room.

"No, Brad!" she said, throwing her dirty rag at him. He ducked, letting it sail over his head.

"Hey, hey, now!" he said, grinning.

Solomon chose to make his entrance. He shoved the door loudly so they would notice, and then he walked in, looking around in inspection.

"Looking good," he said, and Nicole, who had frozen in place, quickly finished up the last corner and threw all the dirty rags and water into a pile.

"Thanks," she muttered, standing perfectly still. She hadn't expected him to find out about her getting in trouble again, and who knows how long he had been standing there watching her flirt with a boy.

"I'd say you guys are done," he said, dismissing them both from the hall. Nicole quickly turned on her heel and started down the aisle between rows of tables. Brad met up with her a few tables up, and Nicole felt Solomon's eyes on the back of her neck as she left.

Once the door closed behind them, though, her smile returned, and Brad, who had remembered to grab his iPod, turned the volume back down and turned it off before sliding it into the pocket of her khaki cargo shorts.

"Well, that was fun," Nicole said, taking the steps slowly. He kept pace with her on purpose.

"It was. You make anything fun," he said, and Nicole looked down, feeling her cheeks warm.

As they reached the top and Nicole turned to go towards her room, Brad reached out and stopped her, grabbing her wrist.

"We should hang out again soon, kay?" he asked, and Nicole smiled.

"I'd like that," she said, and he nodded before dropping her arm and turning to walk the other way.

For once since arriving at Gallagher, something normal had happened to her. Maybe this place wasn't so bad after all.

**Please leave me a review. I really want at least five reviews for this chapter, please! Thanks.**


	6. Chapter 6: Broken Promises

**Chapter 6**

Nicole fell back on her bed, her head landing right on her pillow and her legs automatically curving under the blankets bent back at the foot-her version of making the bed. Her long dark hair was falling out of its ponytail leaving stay strands stuck to her face in a layer of sweat and dirt, and her uniform was disheveled and crumpled.

After a moment of silence and rest, she walked to the shower. When the water finally got hot, she stepped in and started scrubbing. She scrubbed every last minute piece of dirt from her face and body, shampooed all the sweat and grime from her hair, leaving it smelling fruity and good, and made sure all the dirt was out from under her fingernails before she got out.

She put on a pair of jeans, destroyed in the knees and stained with spots of paint, and a Tshirt. She slid on a hoodie over it but pushed the sleeves up above her elbows. She ran the brush quickly through her hair detangling any knots, slid on a few hairties and bracelets, and walked back into her room.

Empty, she slid on a pair of tennis shoes and grabbed a ring off the table beside the door before walking out and going down the steps. Slipping the ring onto her finger, Nicole brushed a piece of hair out of her face before sneaking past the filled Dining Hall and out onto Gallagher grounds. It didn't take long for her to make it to the wall, jump it, and disappear into the woods.

Once she was high in a tree, she recalled the reason she was there.

_The smell of chicken, hamburgers, and spaghetti drifted down the hall, and Nicole and her friends were racing to get there first, tired, dirty, and starved from their day of classes. When Nicole broke through the doors first, though, she saw something she'd never expect to see. _

_Everyone turned to see who had opened the doors when they didn't close seconds later, and they started laughing when they saw her. In front of her, around her, on every available space, there were pictures of her. Pictures of her and Brad the day before in the cafeteria goofing off, pictures of her when she was little, pictures of her and her family. It wouldn't have been so bad, except in every single one she had a stupid face, and on every single one of them someone had written speech bubbles from her mouth and wrote horrible, embarrassing things about her. Nicole, too tired to put up the brave front, turned and walked back out without even moving a muscle in her face. She had seen Brad staring at her, she had seen her brother sitting at the table with no food, watching her. She had seen her grandmother and Joe Solomon talking over in the back corner. She walked up the steps and towards her room, and once her roommates had checked to make sure she wasn't headed for the door, they let her go._

_She had showered off the day's success and come out to think._

While sitting in the tree, she heard branches crack nearby and shifted silently so she was blocked by the leaves on the branch she was sitting in. Below her, a figure broke through the trees and bushes, looking up through the leaves to find her. Only three people would know she took to the trees instead of the ground when she was upset, only two had short hair, and only one was less than six feet tall.

"Found you," the expected voice stated from down below, and Nicole slowly removed herself from the tree, one branch at a time. Once her feet hit the ground, her brother grabbed her arm to make sure she didn't run again. Only she hadn't run. She had walked; she walked upstairs, walked back down, walked into the woods, and walked until she found a decent climbing tree. She had never ran off, never cried a tear, and never let a single sound out of her tight-lipped mouth. Until now.

"I'm not going anywhere Matthew," she said, jerking her arm free from his grasp. Matt, who was used to his sister's vicious and defiant behavior, just let go and stood there, waiting. Eventually, Nicole couldn't stand the silence, and looked at him with a cocked eyebrow.

"What'd you come and get me for?" she asked.

"They didn't want you to run and then have to spend days looking for you," Matthew lied, and Nicole saw through it.

"Bull crap. They knew I wouldn't leave, especially with Dad on a mission and mom MIA at the moment," Nicole said, shifting her weight to her left leg and sliding her hand onto her hip.

"Uncle Joe wanted me to."

"Of course he did," Nicole muttered, turning to look at the school. It was just a small outline from where she was standing.

"He wanted to talk to you," Matt said.

"Ok," Nicole said, starting back towards the school. Matt quickly followed, draping an arm over her shoulder.

"Do you know who did it?" Nicole asked after a second.

"I have my guesses," Matt said, and Nicole shot him a look. "I'm not at liberty to discuss them yet," he said and Nicole rolled her eyes and laid her head on his shoulder.

"I've always got your back, though, sis, and don't ever forget that," he said, and she smiled.

"Never," she said.

Joe Solomon was waiting on Nicole at the front door, an expectant, stern expression on his face.

"If you _ever_ run off of school property again," he started off by saying.

"Technically, I walked," Nicole said, not intimidated by his open-ended threat.

"Don't start with me Nicole," he said, narrowing his eyes. Matthew snorted, then remembered his promise to his father-Nicole wasn't supposed to get into major trouble.

"Be good," he whispered in her ear before leaving her alone with Solomon. Nicole watched him leave until she couldn't make out his figure in the school among the others who were resuming normal life. She bet she was the talk of the school at the moment. From inside, she caught someone's eye and she gave an almost apologetic smile. The owner of the eyes she had met smiled back and shrugged, but Solomon leaned back, closing the door behind him all the way.

He sat on the steps, and Nicole copied suit. He watched her for a moment, and Nicole watched the leaves sway in the trees for a while before she couldn't stand it anymore.

"What?" she asked, turning to look at him.

"Are you Ok?" he asked. There was a lot of ways to answer that. Was she Ok physically? Yes. Was she Ok from the prank in the hall? Yeah, pretty much. Was she Ok with her dad leaving to go finish a fifteen year covert operation and find her mom? That answer was much more confusing.

"Fine," she muttered, turning back to the sky and watching the stars appear slowly.

"I didn't mean about the prank," he said.

"I know," she responded just as shortly as she had before. She wasn't one to share her feelings. As far as feelings went, pain was about the only one she would willingly talk about, and usually, that was only if it was really bad. Otherwise, she tended to just let her feelings be known through her actions and reactions instead.

"You're getting really good at the lying game," Solomon said, smiling a little.

"Who said I was lying?" Nicole asked, switching from the stars to the craters in the moon.

"I can tell," he said, and Nicole looked at him with squinted eyes.

"I don't want to talk about it," she said, looking back to the sky. "It's complicated," she added.

"Ok," he said simply, and Nicole looked back at him.

"Ok?" she asked, surprised.

"Ok," he repeated. She shrugged.

"Ok, now, are you Ok about the prank thing in the hall?" he asked, and Nicole felt her breath catch. The more she thought about it, the more anger built up inside her. No one, not even her brother, had the right to do that to her. And they wouldn't get away with it.

"When I find out who did it, grandma better be ready for me," Nicole said, completely serious.

"Don't get yourself into huge trouble. You have promises to keep," he said.

"I didn't promise not to get into trouble," Nicole corrected.

"No, you promised to try to not stress your grandmother out so much. And I do believe attempting to murder a girl and flirting with a boy is stressing not only to your grandmother, but to me," he said.

"Ok, flirting with a boy should not be stressing to you!" Nicole screeched, feeling herself blush. She really needed to learn to control that.

"Yes it does," Solomon said back.

"Then you're being over-protective!"

"No, I'm not," he said, shaking his head.

"Yes you are!" she said, standing up. "And nobody said I was going to kill her."

"That's why I said attempt."

"Well, maybe. But I would feel really bad afterwards."

"That's why you're not going to do anything," he said.

"No, I'm going to do something alright," Nicole said.

"No, you aren't. Or not only will you get in trouble with your grandmother and the school, you'll get into trouble with me and your father," he said.

"Whatever," Nicole said, opening the front door. Solomon kept talking behind her, but she walked in and held her chin high, ignoring the stares and the whispers that picked up or stopped as she walked by.

She made eye contact with as many people possible with her chin up and an air of confidence. Nobody was going to break her down, not even some low-life scum that tried her hardest.

When she got back to her room, her roommates looked up but looked back down at what they were doing almost immediately. They all knew Nicole when she stormed off would rather not talk. About anything. Nicole sat on her bed and stirred a note.

"What's this guys?" she asked, picking it up.

"Oh, it's a note. It was slid under our door addressed to you," Audrey said.

"And you guys didn't read it?" Nicole asked suspiciously.

"Nobody said that," Lexie said, smiling innocently.

"Figures," Nicole joked, rolling her eyes for effect. She unfolded the note that was written on evapo-paper and quickly read it.

_Cole,_

_ I asked Lauren and my roommate, Jake, to create an IM ChatRoom. You should sign on tonight when your roommates go to sleep. _

_ Brad_

Nicole washed the note down the drain and looked around at her friends.

"You will be going to sleep tonight," she threatened, and all her friends laughed.

"Ok," they all said, smiling. Lauren turned on Nicole's computer and opened a program. After a few seconds of typing, she handed her the computer.

"You have to create a username," she said.

Nicole sat down on her bed with her back propped up against the pillows.

_Somewhereovrtharainbow11_

The computer accepted it, and she quickly added in some of the already made usernames, recognizing their owners by the little tips left in their usernames.

_Watchmehack _was Lauren.

_Imabeast _was her brother.

_Office'sbestfriend _was Brad.

_Donttellmeicant _was Lexie_._

_Fashionistagoddess _was Audrey.

Her friends slowly climbed into their beds and everyone turned the lights off. Nicole silently changed into pajamas in the dark and then climbed into her own bed. Once the slow breathing of all three of her friends was audible, even though she thought it was fake, she logged on to chat.

_Somewhereovrtharainbow11 has logged on._

_Office'sbestfriend has logged on._

_Somewhereovrtharainbow11: Hey._

_Office'sbestfriend: Hey, are you OK?_

_Somewhereovrtharainbow11: I'm fine. Thanks._

_Office'sbestfriend: Ok, what's up?_

_Somewhereovrtharainbow11: Nothing. Laying in bed._

_Office'sbestfriend: Nice. Me too._

_Somewhereovrtharainbow11: yeah, ikr. _

_Office'sbestfriend: Who do you like?_

_Somewhereovrtharainbow11: Random._

_Office'sbestfriend: ?_

_Somewhereovrtharainbow11: I'm not telling._

_Office'sbestfriend: Oh, come on. Please?_

_Somewhereovrtherainbow11: no._

_Office'sbestfriend: If I tell you who I like will you tell me who you like?_

_Somewhereovrtherainbow11: Maybe._

_Office'sbestfriend: Please?_

_Somewhereovrtharainbow11: Ok._

_Office'sbestfriend: yay_

_Somewhereovrtharainbow11: So…?_

_Office'sbestfriend: oh, right._

_Office's bestfriend: I like you. _

_2 minutes later_

_Office'sbestfriend: I'm taking silence is good because they say it's golden. Wbu?_

_Somewhereovrtharainbow11: Sorry, I was staring at the screen. :) I like u 2._

_Office'sbestfriend: Really?_

_Somewhereovrtharainbow11: Yes…_

_Office'sbestfriend: Cool. :) _

_Somewhereovrtharainbow11: soooooooo…._

_Office'sbestfriend: it turns out jake and the others aren't asleep. I gota get off here before they start pretending to be me. Bye._

_Somewhereovrtharainbow11: ok…bye. :(_

_Office'sbestfriend has logged off._

_2 min. later._

_Somewhereovrtharainbow11 has logged off._

Nicole felt the stares on her back, heard the whispers around her, and watched as the whole room turned to see her as she walked in the Dining Hall the next morning. Audrey had made her glamorous, with the help of Lexie and Lauren, and for once, Nicole liked the stares. It meant she was succeeding in the little game someone was trying to play. And losing.

Nicole's dark hair and honey highlights floated down her back in ringlet curls, her eyes, which had turned grey this morning, were outlined with brown eyeliner and accented with silver shadow, and her lips were sparkling with a thin layer of sheer lip-gloss. Although Audrey couldn't touch her outfit, uniforms required, Nicole had managed to make even it look decent this morning. Her skirt and blazer barely met right below her belly-button, and Lexie had tied a tie loosely around her neck, giving the blazer some flair. She had put on some knee high socks and then slid on the same pair of dark blue converse she had been wearing all year.

The guys whistled as she passed their table, and Nicole let a small grin spread across her face. Her friends flanked her on either side and behind her, looking just as pretty as she did. Audrey said her mother would be proud.

They got their breakfast and took their seats at their table, and the stares slowly evaporated as everyone turned their attention back to their own food. Only one person was staring intently as Nicole ate her food without a second thought. All the pictures and evidence of a prank had been removed.

"What?" Nicole finally asked, looking up at the girl a few seats down. Her name was Ginger, and she had bright orange hair and was a good foot taller than Nicole. She was an eighth grader.

"Nothing. Just waiting for you to go run to Mr. Fluffles again," she said, smirking. Mr. Fluffles just happened to be Nicole's childhood stuffed-animal, the one that she carried around everywhere and played with 24/7 until she turned six. There was a lot of jabs relating to that on the prank yesterday. Nicole stood up, immediately identifying her as the one who did the prank, and Audrey pulled her back down.

"What? Don't think you could win?" Ginger continued, a full out smile on her face. "Because you know I did it. I did it all, and guess what? Everyone thinks you're the biggest loser in the school because of it," she kept on.

Nicole broke free of Audrey's grasp and stood up. "We're about to see who the biggest loser in this school is," Nicole said, her fingers forming tight fists at her sides.

Across the room, a guy could be heard. "If she tries to fight my sister I'm going to have to fight her back," the unfamiliar voice said, and Nicole heard the sound of chairs scooting back as everyone moved to take sides. She saw Matthew eyeing the guy who had originally spoke.

"Oh, come on, Shorty. You're not scared, are you?" Ginger taunted, and Nicole forgot everything Solomon had told her the day before on the porch. She threw the first punch, nailing Ginger in the nose, and she smiled when she heard the satisfactory crack. Around her certain tables were watching the show, while others, like the two tables that had contained the brothers, were on their feet with fists flying.

Ginger, after feeling the blood come pouring out of her nose, threw a heavy punch of her own, and Nicole avoided the hit. They kept throwing punches so fast and hard they didn't see anyone come up beside them, but suddenly, Nicole's arms were held back behind her and Ginger smiled viciously. She threw a punch right into Nicole's jaw, and Nicole saw the room spin. She struggled to get out of her captors grasp, but before she could a familiar head of dark gold hair was in front of her, blocking the oncoming blows. She twisted desperately to break free, and as soon as she could someone else had her pinned, but this time, so was Ginger and Nicole's savior.

Nicole struggled and twisted, but the vise on her arms just kept getting tighter.

As the three main fighters were forcibly removed from the room, the buzzing in Nicole's ears slowly drained and she could make out who was holding back who.

Dr. Steve was holding back Ginger, and Mr. Smith, one of her teachers, was holding back Bradley, which left Nicole to assume her Uncle Joe Solomon was holding her back. She was still struggling when her captivator pulled her arms so far back she felt her shoulder pop out of place. She stood still and stopped struggling, and Solomon carefully popped it back in before continuing down the hall.

They stopped at the infirmary, and Dr. Steve took Ginger in first, leaving Bradley and Nicole, along with Mr. Smith and Solomon in the hall. Once the door was closed, Nicole leaned her head back far enough to see her Uncle's face.

"Can you please let go of me now?" she asked, and he shook his head.

"Please? It's not him I was fighting with, it was Ginger!" she argued, trying to twist around to see him.

Suddenly, the infirmary door opened and Mr. Smith walked Brad in, leaving just the Uncle and defiant niece in the hall. Nicole hated her luck.

**Sorry It's taken so long. A lot of reviews means a faster update! :) Maybe even again tonight? Hmm...**


	7. Chapter 7: New Lesson

**Chapter 7**

"I told you not to do it," her uncle Joe said, and Nicole looked up at him. He had finally released his tight hold on her arms and let her turn around to face him. He held her chin up with his left hand and fingered the large swollen bruise along her jawline. "That was a cheapshot," he muttered so low Nicole barely heard him.

"Ow," she said, dancing backwards as he ran his fingers across it.

"Come back over here," he said, and Nicole slowly returned, her hand cupped around her chin. Her knuckles were bloody and her nose had a slow trickle of blood coming from it, but other that there was no evidence of a fight.

"Who held me back?" she said as Solomon moved her hand away and started rubbing along her jawline again. "What are you doing?" she asked, jerking her head out of his grasp as he hit the tender spot again.

"I'm trying to see if your jawbone chipped, would you hold still?" he asked. "And I don't think I should tell you," he added.

"I think you should," Nicole said through gritted teeth, trying not to move her head again.

"Just because you know how to fight doesn't mean you always have to," he said, changing the subject and releasing her cheek, satisfied.

"What was I supposed to do? Just let.."

"There is a time and place for fighting, and attacking someone just because they made fun of you isn't a good time and the Dining Hall is especially not a good place."

"But Uncle Joe, that's not…"

"You should have learned by now Shorty that life isn't fair."

"But," she started again.

"No buts," he interrupted her. She glared, and when the infirmary door opened behind her, she turned happily, anything to get away from her annoying Uncle. She stopped when she saw the doctor waiting with a syringe, but Solomon pushed her in in front of him, and she stumbled through the doorway.

The doctor led her to a bed behind a curtain and started talking to her. He asked for her name, her age, her address, her family history, every little basic thing just to get her warmed up. Then he went through the basic tests for a concussion, which she didn't have thanks to a very hard head, and then he assessed her injuries.

"Not much for you, Miss Goode," the doctor said, writing down a few things. "A few bruises, a bloody, swollen nose, but it's not broke, and what's going to be a very sore knot on your jawbone. I'd say you came out pretty good," he said.

"I'm pretty sure it's not chipped, Alex," Solomon told the doctor, and he nodded. After a brief version of what Solomon had done to her jaw, the doctor stepped back and grabbed the syringe he had previously set down.

"It's just pain meds, kid," the doctor, Alex, said, but Nicole shook her head quickly.

"No, um, I'm Ok, really, I don't need that, it's all good," she said, leaning back away from him as he walked closer.

"No, you really should take it Shorty," Joe said, walking up behind her. As the doctor got closer, the more nervous Nicole became. He quickly cleaned off a spot on her arm with an alcohol pad and then before Nicole had a chance to react, Solomon had a firm hold on her arm and the doctor had already gotten the needle in.

Nicole closed her eyes and took a deep breath, and didn't let it out until the needle was gone and so was Solomon's hold on her arm.

"You're such a wimp," a familiar voice said from the doorway, and Nicole turned to see Brad standing there with a hardly a mark on his face, although he was sporting a split lip.

"Oh, thank you thank you thank you!" she said, jumping down off the table and running to him. She hugged him and he staggered backwards, shocked, before hugging her back.

"For calling you a wimp?" he asked, stepping backwards.

"No, for helping me!" she said in 'duh' voice.

"Oh right. No problem," he said.

Behind Nicole, a door opened and closed, and she turned around to find Solomon and the doctor had left. So much for him being a pain and her being in trouble.

"Thanks so much," Nicole said again.

"I couldn't just leave you there. She was taking cheap-shots," he said, blushing.

"Yeah, you probably saved me from a concussion and black eyes," Nicole said, brushing back the curls from around her face.

"So, Cole," Brad started. "Would you like to be my girlfriend?" he asked after a second of silence, and Nicole nodded, biting her bottom lip.

"Cool," he said, grabbing her hand and twirling her around. "This place about to blow," he sang horribly, and Nicole started laughing.

_*INSERT BREAK*_

"Cam!" Rachel Morgan said, exhaling deeply to let out a breath she felt like she had been holding for a month.

"I'm fine Mom," her daughter said, hugging her. Her long hair was up in a ponytail, her tennis shoes and ankles were covered in mud, and she was bruised, but her long arms were steady and strong as she hugged her.

"Where were you?" Rachel asked, holding her daughter only at arm's length.

"I had to drop off for a minute, I was bleeding pretty bad and couldn't see where I was going. By the time I was ready to take off again, they were long gone and I had no idea where anyone was going."

"But you're fine?" her mother asked again.

"Yes, mom, I'm fine," she said.

_*INSERT BREAK*_

"Headmistress Morgan is not in right now, so as for right now, you're off the hook," Dr. Steve said.

The large group of students involved seemed to sigh simultaneously.

"Ok, ya'll are dismissed," Solomon said, and a few dispersed towards their rooms, but Nicole had someone to catch up.

"Matthew!" she yelled, and her brother turned around at the sound of his name. Once he saw it was Nicole he shook his head and turned back around, continuing down the hallway. Nicole noticed the bruise forming just low enough on his cheekbone to avoid a black eye.

"Matt," she said, jogging to catch up, but he was walking quickly away and made it to his room before she could catch him.

"Matthew," she said desperately, and from behind the closed door her brother yelled at her to go away.

She turned away and stormed off down the hall and into her room. Her friends, who were with the group of students getting yelled at, hadn't made it back to their room yet, so she had it all to herself. She logged onto the IM Chatroom they had created and was happy to see she wasn't the only one logged on.

_Somewhereovrtharainbow11 has logged on._

_Imabeast is logged on._

_Office'sbestfriend is logged on._

_Somewhereovrtharainbow11 is invisible to Office'sbestfriend._

_Imabeast is invisible to Office'sbestfriend._

_Somewhereovrtharainbow11: Matthew I'm sorry!_

_Imabeast: no you aren't. I know you. If you were sorry you wouldn't have done it._

_Somewhereovrtharainbow11: whats the big deal_

_Imabeast: I promised to dad you wouldn't get into serious trouble. And what'd you do you went and got into serious, and I mean serious, trouble can't you just behave for once_

_Somewhereovrtharainbow11: it wasn't my fault _

_Imabeast: you threw the first punch it was your fault_

_Somewhereovrtharainbow11: well…._

_3 minutes later._

_Somewhereovrtharainbow11: nobody said dad had to find out_

_Imabeast: I do believe our uncle will tell them_

_Somewhereovrtharainbow11: yeah your right nvm_

_Imabeast: I told you. _

_Somewhereovrtharainbow11: ok well thanks for takin up for me in the fight_

_Somewhereovrtharainbow11 has logged off._

Nicole dropped her laptop onto the floor and listened as it clattered violently before laying silent. She pulled the blanket on her bed up over her head and closed her eyes. It wasn't long before stress overcame her and she fell asleep.

"Cole!" someone sang, and Nicole rolled over, still too tired to even open her eyes.

"Nicole!" someone else yelled, and this time Nicole threw the covers over her head and moved the pillow over her ears.

"Nicole Evelyn Goode, do not make me come over there," the third voice called, and Nicole finally sat up, throwing her pillow at the nearest victim, Lauren.

"What?" Nicole asked, running a hand through her hair.

"Today's a town day!" they all three chorused, and Nicole looked outside. The sun was just rising, but there wasn't a cloud to be seen.

"Cool," she said, getting up. She jumped in the shower and changed into dark wash skinny jeans and a bright purple three quarter length sleeve shirt paired with a grey cami. She quickly brushed her teeth and slid on a pair of UGGS she found in the closet.

"Nicole, are you going to put makeup on?" Audrey asked carefully from her spot in front of the mirror. Nicole had almost managed to forget about the fight yesterday and hadn't even caught her reflection in a mirror yet, but when she turned around, the no that was already forming on her lips quickly changed.

She dabbed on some cover-up, but after about three minutes of covering and it not even fading the purple of the bruise, she decided to give up. She dabbed on some lip-gloss, applied some mascara, and let Audrey do the finishing touches.

From behind her, Lexie slid a brown headband over her head and into her hair, holding back the wet locks that would soon dry naturally straight and soft.

They all four grabbed some bracelets and some money, and their phones that they couldn't use in the school because of the firewall that protected it, and walked out the door.

"Excuse me girls, Nicole's not going into town today," a tall figure said from the shadows, and Nicole openly gaped at her Uncle.

"Excuse me?" she asked, licking her lips and then making a face, forgetting that her favorite lip gloss only smelled good.

"You heard me. You're spending the day at Gallagher," he said, and Nicole looked at her friends. Brad had joined them at the top of the stairs, and Nicole frowned.

"Please?" she asked, pouting a little.

"Nope," Solomon said, popping the p.

"Ugh!" Nicole walked back to her room and flung herself back down on her bed. In the hall, her friends silently made their way down the stairs and out the door. Once off Gallagher grounds, they all looked at each other.

"I don't think she's really spending all day at Gallagher," Audrey whispered, and they agreed.

"She'll get out," Lauren said matter-of-factly, and Lexie nodded.

"Well, tell me if she does," Brad said, leaving them to join up with his own friends.

"Uncle Joe you are the biggest jerk!" Nicole said as soon as the door to her dorm opened.

"I told you not only would you be in trouble with your grandmother, you'd be in trouble with me," he said, shrugging.

"So? That doesn't mean I shouldn't be allowed to go to town!" Nicole said, sitting up.

"It does," he corrected, turning and leaving. "Have a nice day," he said with a smile, and Nicole screeched into her pillow.

It didn't take long for her to become insanely bored and make a plan. Twenty minutes later, she was sneaking silently down the hall. With one quick glance to make sure she was alone, Nicole ducked into a passageway she had found earlier and ran through the darkness. Around her the walls started closing in and the brick underfoot started getting rough, but she could practically smell the fresh air.

She tucked and rolled around a corner, avoiding the only security camera on the passageway, and continued running while pulling spider-webs and brushing dirt off her face and out of her hair. As she neared the end, she slowed her pace and put her hands out to find the wall before her face did. The in pitch black darkness, she couldn't even make out her hand in front of her face.

She searched the wall quickly with her nimble fingers, and then suddenly the wall in front of her slid open silently to reveal Gallagher's wall in front of her. At one point, this must have been a successful passageway, leading all the way out, but now the wall was blocking it, leaving only about six inches between the passageway door and the solid brick wall.

But Nicole knew better. The wall had been there as long as the building had, so there had to be a way out. She examined every inch of cement holding together the rocks and bricks, pushed on every single piece along the wall, yet nothing budged. She looked all around, stepped on every square centimeter of ground, and said every known password imaginable, and still nothing happened. Finally, she stood with her back against the door to the passageway behind her and simply stared, knowing her time was running out before her Uncle would come check on her.

"Hmm," she hummed to herself, noticing a small engraving on one of the stones. She studied the pattern and then pulled out a necklace she had dangling around her neck. Hanging on the chain was a key, a locket, dog tags with her information on it, and a small gold Gallagher symbol. She held the symbol up against the brick, pushed it into the old worn down engraving, and watched as a small, almost unnoticeable opening appeared in the wall.

She pulled her necklace back out and disappeared through the opening, watching as it shut behind her. The opening cut straight through the wall and came out on the other side in a pile of overgrown shrubs and flowers. Realizing how loud her entrance out of the school was, she quickly stood up and walked down the sidewalk and into town. She pulled her cell out of her pocket, and after a quick scan around, she dialed the first number in her speed dial.

"We're coming. We didn't think you'd be that fast," Audrey said, answering and hanging up within five seconds. Nicole laughed and slid her phone back into her pocket. Thirty seconds later, Nicole was in the middle of the group of girls walking four wide down the sidewalk. A minute later, Nicole and Brad walked ahead, while the girls walked a few steps behind.

"How'd you get out?" Brad asked, tilting his head down to look at her.

"Skills," Nicole said, straight-faced, and Brad cocked an eyebrow.

"Cocky much?" he asked, and Nicole grinned.

"I'm just playing," she said, and Brad nodded, grinning back.

"You do realize you have to sneak back in?" he asked.

"She's got the best pavement artist in her bloodline. She's got that part covered," her friends spoke up from behind her, and Nicole felt herself turn a shade of pink darker at the confidence her friends had in her. She just shook her head and continued walking down the sidewalk.

_*INSERT BREAK*_

"Nicole, I need to talk to you," a familiar voice said, knocking on the door.

Nicole sat up on her bed and looked around her room. It seemed her friends were actually sleeping, so she slid her feet around until they hit the floor. She slid her socked feet into her slides and stood up with a yawn. She cracked the door far enough to poke her head through, and the next thing she knew someone had a hold of her elbow and was pulling her through her bedroom door with a hand over her mouth.

"Don't try anything," the voice said threateningly, and Nicole cracked a smile under the vise on her mouth.

Once her bedroom door was closed and they were down the hall, the hand was removed from her face and Nicole launched a punch at the intruder's arm, nailing a bruising blow.

"What was that for!" he whisper yelled, rubbing his arm.

"In case you didn't know, there's a knot the size of a golf ball and a bruise the color of a grape Jolly Rancher on my chin!"

"Oh, my bad," the guy said, and Nicole shook her head, a small grin spreading across her face.

"Matt, what do you want?" Nicole asked, sliding her hands to her hips and shifting her weight to her left leg. The last time they had talked he had refused to say much.

"Two things. One, quit looking for trouble," he started. Nicole stood up straight and the smile disappeared from her lips. She took one step towards her room before he grabbed her wrist and pulled her back. "Don't get all PMS-y on me," he said, and Nicole rolled her eyes.

"As I was saying. Quit looking for trouble. I don't know if Solomon knows you snuck out today, but practically the whole school knows it, so it shouldn't be long before he overhears it. You promised dad you would stop getting in trouble."

"I did not!"

"Ok, fine, you promised him you would stop stressing out Grandma. That would mean to stop getting sent to her office, which would mean quit getting in trouble," he reasoned and Nicole crossed her arms across her chest.

"Fine," she said, nodding.

"If you don't stop I'm going to have stop you because I made a promise of my own," he threatened, and Nicole chuckled.

"Sure, ok," she said, shaking her head. "And the second thing?" she asked.

"Oh, right. Ok. I overheard Grandma talking to Uncle Joe. Mom's fine, she's not MIA anymore," he said, and with that, he spun on his heel and left, leaving her standing alone in the hall in the dark, her blue-grey eyes watching him leave.

**Thanks for the wonderful reviews! Sorry it took so long, but hey, it's summer vacation! (: I might try and update faster if i get some more reviews! :) Tell me what you think.**

**Sneak Peek for chapter 8: It involves Truth or Dare**

**Review please! **


	8. Chapter 8: Truth or Dare?

**Chapter 8**

It was pitch black, completely dark. So dark, even a hand centimeters in front of a face couldn't be seen. In the unyielding darkness, eyes opened, creating a sense of direction at least. Nicole's eyes had faded from the bright blue that morning to a silvery-grey, and they were the easiest to make out in the darkness. Around her, Audrey's blue eyes looked around warily, Lexie's brown ones seemed to glow with the challenge of a mystery, and Lauren's green eyes stared off into space so long Nicole thought she had gone to sleep with her eyes open.

The power had just gone out in their room, leaving them enclosed in a blanket of darkness and silence. There was the sound of paper sliding across the floor to break the tense, breath-holding moment, and then the lights flickered back on cautiously. Nicole slid her feet out from under her warm blankets and dropped down off her bunk, landing with a muted thud. She felt the stares of her roommates as she retrieved the note someone had slid under their door and read it first to herself and then out loud.

"Nicole Evelyn, Audrey Brianna, Alexis Riley, and Lauren Alison: You have been summoned to a dysfunctional and illegal game of truth or dare in the front lobby at Oh-Two Hundred Hours on the day of October the fourteenth. Signed, Bradley Jared, Jake Wiley, Kyle Jacob, and Troy Hunter."

"They're such dorks," Audrey said, shaking her head.

"Why are they using middle names?" Lauren asked, laughing.

"Are we going?" Lexie asked and looked at Nicole with a cocked eyebrow.

"Um, I don't know about ya'll, but I'm definitely going. Brad and his roomies are funny!" she said, her expression somewhere between a laughing smile and a knowing grin. Some might call it a smirk.

"You just think that because one of them is your boyfriend!" Audrey teased, and Nicole stuck her tongue out at her best friend.

"What if we get caught?" Lauren asked, hugging her favorite pillow to her body as she leaned back against the wall behind her bed.

"What if the roof caves in and we're attacked by violent life-sucking aliens?" Nicole said, rolling her eyes. "We're spies in training. We _spy._"

Lauren raised an eyebrow in response before opening her mouth to speak. Lexie beat her to it.

"Lauren dear, we don't need to know the statistics of Nicole's smart-mouth remarks coming true," she said, laying back so her face was unreadable, hidden behind the bars of the top bunk.

Nicole cast a shallow 'if-looks-could-kill-you'd-be-dead' glance at her hidden friend's head before climbing back up the ladder the bed of her own.

"I thought you said you were going?" Audrey asked, watching as she slid her feet down under the blankets.

"It's not until tomorrow night," Nicole said.

"Nicole," Audrey said slowly, "by two in the morning, it will be tomorrow, the fourteenth."

"What?" she turned and stared at the ceiling for a moment before realization flooded over her like water breaking through a dam. "Ohhh," she breathed out, feeling a flush spreading through her cheeks. "My B," she added, rubbing her hand up her face.

"So are you going?" Audrey asked again.

"Yes! But I have three hours! I have to sleep sometime!"

"You also have to look like you didn't just crawl out of bed when in fact you did," Audrey said. She got up and walked to the closet before looking around the room at the other two who hadn't spoken. "Are you two going?" she asked, and Lauren bit her bottom lip before shrugging.

"I guess so," she said.

"Fine, I'll go. But if I don't get any sleep for tomorrow, it's on you," Lexie said, jumping down from her top bunk and joining Audrey at the closet. Nicole climbed down and joined Lauren on the bottom bunk, covering a yawn.

They watched for half an hour as Audrey and Lexie debated on actual clothing or pajamas for this late night/early morning party, and finally they compromised somewhere in the middle. Forty-five minutes after the decision had been made that they were going, outfits had been created and were being tried on for inspection. Lauren came out of the bathroom first, her slides shuffling against the bathroom's tile floor. She was wearing a pair of Soffe shorts and a matching cami covered by a thin white three-quarter length sleeve shirt.

"Perfect," Audrey said evilly, rubbing her palms together like a mad scientist.

"I don't know if this is going to go well. Audrey gets a little nuts after midnight," Nicole said, her form hidden behind the wall beside the open bathroom door.

"Hey, hey!" Audrey said as her roommates laughed.

Somehow the time managed to slip away from them, and they barely got dressed and slid on shoes in time to make it to the lobby on time. The halls were dark and the only sound was the sound of their slow breathing. The closer they came to the lobby, the more sounds they could hear. There were low voices and light footsteps, and suddenly Nicole realized this was a bigger game of Truth or Dare than she thought.

They got there just as the old grandfather clock chimed twice, and a ring of flashlights lit the room. Everyone received a brief welcome, and then they all took a seat in a circle. Nicole managed to find a spot next to Brad, and once she was seated and he had her hand in his, she looked around. There were probably thirty people or so, all from either seventh or eighth grade, sitting around in pajamas.

"Who wants to go first?" Brad's roommate, Troy, asked.

At first no one moved, but finally someone's hand shot up. I was waiting patiently for her to volunteer. Lexie might have been leery about coming, but once she was here, she couldn't pass up a chance to play Truth or Dare. "I'll go," she said.

"Awesome. Miss Alexis," Troy started, and I smothered a laugh when she cut him off.

"Lexie," she corrected.

"Ok. Lexie, truth or dare?" he asked.

"Truth," she said, yawning boredly.

"Ah, man," everyone said, and Lexie rolled her eyes.

"Have you ever kissed a guy?" Troy asked, and I watched as Lexie blinked hard once, twice, a third time on purpose, before answering.

"Nope," she said, popping the p and sounding bored, but I knew her cheeks were flooding with color no one could see in the low light.

The game went around the circle slowly, the dares boring and lame, the truths embarrassing.

"Lexie, truth or dare?" Troy asked again when it came back to her. Lexie wasn't as stupid as she had been before.

"Dare," she said without hesitation.

"I dare you to kiss the guy you want to go out with," he said.

The room grew silent in wait. If Lex backed out, she would be forever known as the one who backed out on her first dare in truth or dare. No one wanted that on their reputation. No matter what the dare was.

"Fine," she said under her breath, low enough for only the few beside her to hear. She stood up and everyone all watched as her cheeks flushed with color and her hands moved from her pockets to her side to behind her back to on her hips, unsettled.

"That would be you," she whispered, stopping right in front of Troy, and everyone gasped, even her roommates. Troy was about five ten with tan skin and noticeable triceps. His abs could be made out through his tight uniform shirt; he had dirty blonde hair that hung over his eyes, which were a steel grey-green color. He was the guy everyone wanted to talk to in seventh grade.

"Sweet," he said, his eyes sparkling under the low light, and they lightly wrapped their arms around each other and kissed soft and sweetly for five point six seven seconds in counting. When they broke apart everyone whistled and Lexie stepped back slowly, her face as red as an apple. Troy watched her as she walked back to her place in the circle without turning around.

After a brief moment of silence, the game came back into full swing, and Nicole was next.

"Nicole, truth or dare?" Troy asked.

"Dare," she said automatically.

"Hold," Troy said, turning to Brad. "Brad, truth or dare?"

"Dare," Brad said slowly, narrowing his eyes.

"I dare you both to sneak out of the school."

"Ohh," everyone chorused, and Nicole looked around the circle. Matthew wasn't there, but if he had been, she would know what he would have been saying. "Stop looking for trouble." Sneaking out of the school was about as much trouble as she could get into. Unless she really didn't leave school grounds…

"How do we know they actually made it off school grounds?" someone asked.

"Oh, good point. We don't want cheaters. Hmm," Troy said, thinking. "And take a picture of both of you in front of one of the stores," he said.

"Photoshop," Nicole muttered under my breath, and Troy cast a glance in her direction before continuing. "So, are you chickening out?" he asked.

"Hold on," Nicole said, covering her face with her hand and pressing her palms against her eyes until she saw fireworks. Her brother, not to mention Solomon, her grandmother, and her parents would all kill her if they found out.

"Come on," Brad whispered in her ear. "We can do this," he added.

"My family would kill me," Nicole said, a little louder than she had planned, and suddenly everyone grew quiet. It was well known that she was the daughter of the Gallagher Prodigy Cameron Morgan, granddaughter of the headmistress, and her father was the infamous Zachary Goode that prevented the third World War from breaking out in Europe with the use of a paperclip, pen, rubber band, and his coworkers, Grant Newman and Jonas Anderson. That story broke free the second day of class when her name was read out and someone who lived on the CIA database the last week and a half had read about it.

"I'm sure you wouldn't be actually dead," Kyle, another one of Brad's roomies said.

"Um, my grandma would kill me, burry me, and then my brother and my parents would dig me up and kill me again. Not to mention my Uncle would send me so far into the ground no one would ever find me," she said.

"So, is THE Nicole Goode too scared to preform her dare?" Troy asked, and Nicole bit her bottom lip. Nicole Goode is never _scared_ to do anything. Forget her family, who said they had to find out?

"I'll do it," she said with conviction, standing up and grabbing Brad's hand. Hope, one of the girls on her hall, handed her a camera, and she and Brad turned and started walking.

"You have twenty minutes or we tell," Troy said, and Nicole ground her teeth. He hadn't mentioned that before.

"I already know the way out," she muttered once they were out of earshot, and Brad let her lead him to a small passageway. They ran down it, and once the bricks started closing in, she slowed and put her hands out like she had before. She opened the end and quickly stuck her necklace in the grooves. They rolled out without setting off any alarms.

"Maybe this won't be so bad after all," Brad muttered. They locked hands and took off running to the nearest store to get the picture. They had thirteen minutes left.

Nine minutes left: Avoiding the guards

Eight minutes left: Sliding down the backside of the wall

Seven minutes left: looking for a passageway

Five minutes left: Still looking for a passageway (the way they came out only worked one way)

Four minutes left: Still looking

Three minutes left: running through hidden halls of the school

Two minutes left: sliding around corners in the halls, mentally cursing shoes for squeaking on tile floors

Thirty-two seconds left: sliding to a quick stop behind a wall at the sound of authorities' voices. Nicole poked her head around the corner just long enough to see what was happening. The truth or dare circle had broken apart, and kids were hiding anywhere they could squeeze. Some were even smart enough to make their way up the stairs before the teachers could enter the lobby.

"What are you doing up?" Solomon asked the poor student who couldn't find a hiding place.

"I…I was just walking around. I…I couldn't sleep," he stuttered, and Nicole shook her head. Joe Solomon had eyes like a hawk and ears like a dog. No one could hide and no lie could escape him. They were screwed.

"Ok, then why are your roommates hiding behind the Sword of Gillian?" Solomon asked, and the three hiding boys slunk their way out into the open, caught.

"We were following him," one of them said, and Solomon nodded.

"Ok, then why are there three more boys around the corner and four girls behind the stairwell banister?" The caught removed themselves from their hiding place, and Nicole bit her lip as Troy, Jake, and Kyle came out from around the corner.

"Where's your fourth?" Solomon asked them, and Nicole looked at Brad. He seemed to be in another world.

"Well, sir, see, he and," Troy started. Nicole poked her head around the corner and held up the camera. Troy didn't even look in her direction, but he had seen her.

"He and his shoes were gone when I woke up so I got these two up and we came to look for him," he changed the story.

"Get to your rooms. All of you," Solomon said, sending them all away. Nicole took the crowd to make her getaway, and she drug Brad with her. They joined the group running up the stairs, and when she made it to the top she slowed and turned her head slightly enough to see back down the stairs. Solomon was nowhere to be found. She was safe. She said goodbye to Brad, gave him the camera, and ran to her room. Her friends were sitting on their beds staring at the door expectantly.

"Safe!" Nicole called out, and all her friends squealed quietly with delight. Inside, Nicole did, too. She hadn't been caught doing anything wrong. She loved the feeling.

**Thanks for all the wonderful reviews! A fast update just for you! Hey, that rhymed! :D**

**Review please!**


	9. Chapter 9: Welcome to North Cove

**Sorry for the long wait!**

**Chapter 9**

"No you cannot! They're in seventh grade! They haven't had any coveops and very little of anything else!" Rachel Morgan said.

"They're being normal teenagers! They don't need anything else!" Cam fired back.

"Cam, they could get hurt."

"They could get hurt here, too," Zach argued.

"Not like they could there."

"Come on, Mom! It's probably the only way we'll catch him! Audrey and Nicole know this town like the back of their hands anyways! Give them a disguise and enroll them back in the middle school and they have a cover. Let them be normal teenagers and we have bait."

"Well what if your fish gets your bait before you reel him in?"

"What if the sky turns black and we all die tomorrow! Mom, this is the only way."

"I don't like it," a new voice said, and Cam sighed desperately. If Joe Solomon and her mother both said no the director wouldn't approve of it, even if it was their own kids.

"Solomon, you know Nicole can handle herself against him. She already has once," Zach said, but inside, he was hoping they would both say no and he wouldn't have to worry about his only daughter being hurt.

"I know Zach, but she's thirteen."

"And I was younger than that," he shot out.

"I see your points, but that doesn't mean I like it. I'll agree to it, but I don't like it. Matthew's going to be mad," Solomon said.

"Don't tell him," Cam said.

"His sister missing for over two weeks, hm, yeah, that will go unnoticed," he muttered, rolling his eyes and leaving. Zach and Cam watched him leave before turning back to the main desk where Mrs. Morgan was sitting.

"Mom, we have it all planned out perfectly, and there would be four of them, and they have eight well trained spies watching them at all times," Cam coaxed.

"Fine, I'll tell the director it's fine. You can have them tomorrow to take to the CIA Headquarters and get them disguises. I want good ones, too. Those kids know Audrey and Nicole's faces."

"McHenry's head of the disguises, I'm sure they'll be unrecognizable," Zach said, using the old nickname for Macey.

"Alright. Never let them out of your sight. Solomon can tell them tonight after dinner," Rachel said, sighing and rubbing her hand up her face. "Are you going to make your presence known or just hang out until you leave tomorrow?"

"I think we should just hang out," Cam said.

"I was going to tell you that's probably the best idea," her mom said, satisfied. The two stood up and left the room, vanishing down the hall before anyone could even think they had seen them.

The language at dinner was back to English, so everyone got to act themselves.

"Don't you dare!" Lauren was saying, holding up a notebook to defend herself. A pea went flying across the table, arcing and falling over the notebook directly on the top of her head. "Man!" she cried, and the table laughed.

"Ever thought of eating those, Miss Goode?" Mr. Smith said from behind her, and Nicole cast a quick glance over her shoulder before turning around to look at him.

"Sorry," she said guiltily. Mr. Smith nodded and continued walking by towards the teacher's tables at the end.

"You're really bad at getting caught doing things wrong," Troy said from across the table. Troy and Brad had joined their table, and everyone could tell that as soon as he got guts, Jake would be joining them. Audrey hadn't let her crush be known, but as soon as it was you could bet whoever that boy was would be rushing to join their table. Audrey was _the_ girl of the seventh grade.

"That's why I managed to get out of the school and back in and up to my room in without getting caught?" she asked, lowering her voice.

"You had Brad's help," Troy argued.

"So what?" Brad asked.

"That was a compliment for you," Nicole said, looking at him. He arched his eyebrows a moment before relaxing his face.

"Oh," he said.

"But, what he said. So what? I did it before, too!" Nicole said.

"True," Troy mused, and Lexie launched a pea at his forehead, laughing when it bounced off his forehead and fell onto his tray.

"Audrey, what are you doing?" Troy asked, adverting everyone's attention to Audrey and Lauren. Lauren was bent over, and Audrey was pulling through her hair.

"Getting that darn pea out Nicole decided to throw," Audrey said without looking up.

"That was a perfect throw, too!" Nicole said, laughing.

"It's stuck in my hair!" Lauren said, looking at her friend from under her hair.

"No it's not!" Nicole said. "Audrey just got it out!"

Lauren flipped her hair back over and ran her fingers through it to settle it back out. The rest of their meal was finished in silence, and then they walked down the hall towards their rooms.

"See you later," Nicole told Brad, giving him a small smile before turning down the hall.

"Bye," Lexie said to Troy, and they gave each other a shy grin before turning their separate ways, too. Once inside their room, the girls flopped down on the two bottom bunks, staring at the metal frame above them for the top bunks.

"Don't you have work to do?" a voice asked, walking in their room without even knocking.

"What are you doing?" Nicole asked, sitting up and swinging her feet around to the floor. Beside her, Audrey did the same, and across from them Lexie and Lauren did, too.

"Pack a bag ladies. The four of you are going to North Cove."

"Why?" Audrey and Nicole asked simultaneously, casting each other worried glances.

"Nothing bad," he said, reassuring them. "Be ready to leave at four in the morning," he said before leaving.

"Where's North Cove?" Lexie asked.

"It's our old neighborhood, like two hours north of here," Audrey said, looking at Nicole. "You don't think something…"

"He said it was nothing bad, Aud. Uncle Joe doesn't lie to me," Nicole said sternly, convincing herself. Audrey made a little glance around, saying 'what about this place?' but Nicole didn't pay attention.

"Come on Audrey. We have four suitcases to pack!" Lexie said, jumping off the bed and opening their closet. Nicole pulled the suitcases belonging to her and Lauren out from under the bed she was sitting on, and across from her, Lauren did the same with Audrey's and Lexie's. Audrey got up and joined Lexie at the closet.

While they were sorting through clothes, Lauren and Nicole quickly finished up the day's assignments and laid them neatly on the desk in the corner of the room. Nicole jumped in the shower and slid on her pajamas, and Lauren followed suit. The room was silent for what had to be a record, two hours.

At eleven, all four girls were in their beds under their blankets and all the lights were off. Two minutes and forty two seconds later, all four girls were asleep.

Four O'clock came early the next morning. They got up fifteen minutes earlier to get ready. Nicole slid on a pair of flare leg jeans and a simple blue Vneck shirt over a cami and tied her navy blue converse. She ran the straightener through her hair to get rid of the frizz and brushed her teeth. She added her morning things to her bag and once they were all ready, they rolled their suitcases down the hall and to the lobby. Solomon met them at the door. He opened it and they all walked out slowly. The sun hadn't even crested over the treetops yet.

"Ok, girls I know you haven't had coveops yet, but remember: the easiest way to lose a tail is to _blend in_ and get out of sight," he said, giving them a last minute tip before they got to the limo. He put their bags in the trunk and then opened the back door.

"Be careful," he said, giving Nicole a hug before she ducked down in the seat. He closed the door behind her and walked back into the school.

Inside the limo, the girls gasped as they realized they weren't alone.

"Mom!" everyone chorused, smiles plastering their faces.

"Matthew was right! You're fine!" Nicole breathed, trading places with people until she was right beside her mom.

"I'm Ok," Cam said, wrapping her daughter in a hug. Nicole laid her head on her shoulder, and Cam left an arm over her shoulder a moment before moving.

"Ok, girls, when we get where we're going make sure you stay quiet and just follow us closely, OK?" a tall dark skinned lady asked. Nicole took her to be Bex, Lexie's mom by the slight accent sliding off the tips of her words.

"Yes ma'am," all four girls chorused.

A minute and two seconds later they switched from a limo to a helicopter. The sound of the blades slicing through the air kept anyone from creating conversation. Nicole looked at their parents. Her mom looked good to have been thought of as MIA, and Macey looked like her usual self, only sleep deprived. The lady she had took to be Bex was bigger than Macey and her mom, and she thought she was a good fighter, like her daughter. The last woman was tall and blonde and as skinny as a toothpick. She had thin wireframed glasses that brought out the blue in her eyes. She looked almost exactly like Lauren. Nicole instantly knew she had to be Liz, the computer genius.

Two hours later the helicopter landed and the parent's herded the four girls off the helicopter. They all walked into a building and descended in an elevator until they were underground. Macey led the way, leading the string of people behind her through a maze of halls and locked doors. Her CIA ID card was sliding through lockpads faster than Nicole could count how many they had seen.

Finally, they came to a large door marked "CLOSET".

"Whoa!" Audrey muttered as they walked in. The room was bigger than a one floor house, filled with racks and racks of clothes, mirrors, makeup chairs, and sinks surrounded by cabinets of hair dye and scissors.

"You guys are getting makeovers. When we get done with you, you will be unrecognizable," Macey said, gesturing to the room.

"Oh," Lexie started.

"My," Lauren chimed in with her.

"Gosh," Audrey and Nicole added in, and their voices echoed around the empty room.

"Is that a good 'ohmygosh' or a bad one?" Bex asked, looking at Cam.

"I think it was a "icantbelievethisishappening' kind of thing," Cam responded.

"Again, is that good or bad?" Bex said.

"Leaning towards bad," Audrey said suddenly, staring intently at the sinks harbored by dye and scissors. Audrey loved her hair, and dreaded the thought of dying it.

"It's temporary Aud. The dye will come out after a couple of weeks and your hair will grow back," Macey said.

"Dye doesn't wash out in a couple of weeks," Audrey said.

"I made this dye. I made all the makeup and hair dye and designed all the clothes in this room," Macey said.

"Oh," Audrey said.

"This is cool," Lauren whispered.

"Let's get started then!" Macey said loudly, and the four girls looked at each other warily.

Macey drug Audrey and Nicole over to the hair station first while Bex and Cam took the other two girls to the clothing racks. Liz came over to help Macey.

"Oh, I don't think I've been properly introduced, but I'm sure you know who I am. I'm Elizabeth Sutton Anderson, Lauren's mom. Call me Liz," she said.

The girls smiled and nodded before Macey pulled their heads back into a sink. Liz took Nicole's and Macey took Audrey's and they washed their hair thoroughly before grabbing bottles of hair dye.

"Mom," Audrey said suddenly, trying to sit up.

"Audrey, I swear if you don't put your dripping with conditioner hair back in this sink I will ground you for months!" Macey yelled, grabbing a bandanna off the counter behind her. Audrey laughed quietly before she sank back into her chair and let her hair sink back into the running water and her mom tied a bandanna around her eyes so she couldn't see.

She quickly coated Audrey's hair in a dark black dye and let it slowly rinse out, the way she had designed it. She lifted Audrey's head up and towel dried it before tossing a bottle of dye to Liz to apply to Nicole's hair. The bright red syrup left Nicole's hair a dazzling auburn color, and Macey switched places with Liz to add a few extra touches. She put in a deep blue stipe where Nicole would soon have bangs, and then green tips along the bottom in the front, most of which would get cut off anyways.

"Am I playing the cover of a freak show or what?" Nicole asked, watching her set the bottles of dyes down beside her.

"No, be patient," Macey said, giving Liz a towel and taking back over on Audrey's cut. She pulled her long hair back into a low ponytail and then clipped it all off right above the hair tie. Audrey gasped at the sudden lightness of her hair and reached up to feel how short it was.

The bottom of Audrey's hair was just above her shoulders in a blunt cut with no layers. Macey added some side bangs and a little clip before blow drying her hair flat and shiny and leaving her sitting there. She then helped Liz with Nicole's hair.

They cut Nicole's hair right at the shoulder and put layers upon layers in it and angled the front back. Macey gave her bangs, and the left side of her bangs were bright blue. She had cut off most of the green, but a few remnants remained. Liz blow dried her hair into smooth perfection, and Macey ran some foam through her fingers and applied it through Nicole's hair, leaving it extra soft and smooth. Nicole fingered her hair in the mirror a moment.

"I actually like it," she said after a moment, giving her stylists a brief smile.

"Mom, can I see mine?" Audrey asked from the other chair, and Macey removed her blindfold.

Audrey gasped at the sight in the mirror and ran her fingers through her short black hair. She looked up at her mom with a small smile on her face. "It looks great," she said, and Macey laughed.

"Personally, I like your old hair color better," Nicole said, grinning.

"You look better with your dessert colored hair!" Audrey said, teasing.

"Ok, Ok, go find Cam and Bex, I need to do Lexie's and Lauren's hair!" Macey said, playfully shoving them out of their chairs and towards the clothes.

"Over here Nicole!" Cam yelled from behind racks of clothing, and Audrey and Nicole looked at each other and laughed. They ran over and joined Lexie and Lauren and Cam and Bex in front of a row of mirrors.

"Oh my gosh! Your hair!" Lauren and Lexie chorused, and Nicole laughed.

"Your clothes! They're so cute!" Audrey squealed, looking at them. Lexie was wearing a short summer dress and some worn Converse, and Lauren was wearing some really cute shorts and a long sleeve simple blue shirt that completed the outfit perfectly. She was wearing black flip flops and a few bangles on her wrist.

"They need to go get their hair done," Bex said, and Lauren and Lexie nodded before waving bye and running down the aisle towards the sinks.

"Ok, I already have your outfits picked out!" Bex said, pulling Nicole and Audrey to a standing mirror with clothes thrown over the top.

"Nicole," Cam said, picking up one pile and handing it to her daughter.

"Audrey," Bex said, presenting the other pile to her. They girls went behind a partition wall to change.

Nicole traded her jeans for a white skirt embellished with orange, purple, and navy blue flowers that came down and ended at mid-thigh. She slid a navy Tshirt very similar to the one she was wearing on over her white cami and traded her trusty blue high top converse for regular purple ones.

Audrey put on dark green shorts and a bright pink shirt. She left her flip flops on and tied a small belt around her waist. Her look was simple and elegant, taking away from her gorgeous facial features that the town of North Cove knew.

"Put these on," Bex said after a short inspection. She handed Nicole a pair of silver stud earrings and a ring. She gave Audrey a matching ring and anklet.

"Those rings are not just spoon rings," Cam said. "They have a tracking device and a comms unit in them in case of emergency," she explained.

"What are we doing?" Nicole and Audrey chorused.

"Classified," both adults answered, and Nicole and Audrey looked at each other and huffed.

"Come on," Bex said, walking away from them. "It's makeup time," she said with an evil glint in her eye and Nicole looked at her mom with a cautious expression.

"You'll be fine," her mom laughed, pushing her forward.

Three hours, forty six minutes, and twenty three seconds after entering the McHenry CIA Closet, the four girls that had walked in were nowhere to be seen. Instead, there were four new girls, each with different looks and personalities.

The four girls were lined up in front of a wall that was made of mirrors, and they were admiring their new selves. Lauren's hair was a dark brown, almost black, and Lexie's matched Nicole's in color.

"Alright girls, here's a brief run through," Macey started. "You're a set of quadruplets from Florida. You've never met any of these people in your life. You're just being normal teenage girls in North Cove Middle School," she said.

"Nicole, your name is Evelyn Carter. Audrey, you're Brianna Carter. Lauren, you're Alison, and Lexie you're Riley. You're living in Nicole's old house, which has been rebuilt, with Mr. and Mrs. Newman, so Audrey, behave," Macey said.

"You too Lauren," Liz said.

"Especially you Nicole," Cam said, narrowing in eyes.

"Yes ma'am," the girls echoed.

"School starts tomorrow for you guys."

"Why are we going to North Cove for a couple weeks?" Nicole asked.

"Can't tell you," Cam said.

"Why not?" Lexie asked.

"Classified information," Bex said.

"We're kinda the subject of said classified information, though," Lauren argued.

"It's still above your clearance level," Liz said.

"Does it have to do with the stalker and the guy you've been trying to catch?" Audrey asked.

"Yes," Macey said, handing each of them their suitcases they had thought they left in the car. "I left most of the old stuff in there, but I replaced some things," she said, and all four nodded.

"To the car!" we have a neighborhood to introduce you to!" Bex yelled jokingly, and they all ran out of the closet.

**Review please!**


	10. Chapter 10: We've Already Met

**A/N Sorry for the long wait! I know none of you want excuses: so here is progress news! I expect this story to end with chapter 15. I'm currently working on chapter 13, and I've changed the POV in chapter 12 to Nicole's. It's flowing better. I'm in ahurry to get to those chapters, so I may be updating more regularly. Anyways: Here's chapter 10.**

**Chapter 10**

"Girls! Classes start in twenty minutes!" Bex yelled up the stairs, rolling her eyes. She turned around and walked back into the kitchen where two more strawberry poptarts were popping out of the toaster. She set them on top of the other six laying on the plate on the table and listened for any sound of movement.

Upstairs, the double sink countertop was covered from end to end in various obscenities, everything from toothpaste to twelve different types of mascara. In front of the wall length mirror stood four thirteen year old seventh graders. Two girls had bright auburn hair, only distinguishable because one had lime green and blue streaks, curled into ringlets and scattered haphazardly around their face. Eyeliner framed their eyes, creating a beautiful look and sending the two very different girls into a world of look alikes. After all, they were two of four quadruplets.

The third had short black hair and side bangs. Her bangs were pulled back into a small poof on the top of her head, and her makeup highlighted her high cheekbones and bright eyes.

The fourth had dark brown hair pulled off to the left and tied in a loose side ponytail. Her bangs were curled, as was the bottom of the ponytail, and her lips were shiny and her eyelashes were coated in mascara.

"Eighteen minutes four seconds," the girl with the side pony tail said.

"Alison, we know. Mom's been yelling at us every two minutes for the last ten," Lexie said, pushing her auburn hair behind an ear and applying lip gloss.

"We really should go guys," Audrey said, making a last touch up on her makeup. The others followed her out of the bathroom and they descended down the stairs quickly. As they entered the kitchen, Grant cast them all a fatherly glance from the kitchen table.

"I really hope you aren't expecting to get boyfriends," he said, observing their makeup and outfits. "Because…"

"Da-ad," Lexie interrupted, rolling her eyes.

"Already have one," Nicole muttered mostly to herself and her friends, and Grant raised an eyebrow.

"What's that, Evelyn?" he asked, teasing. "Do I need to talk to Zach?"

"No, sir!" she squealed, and feeling her cheeks turn deep crimson, she turned around and grabbed a poptart off the plate so he couldn't see her face.

"Girls, get in the car, you can't be late on the first day!" Bex said, ending Nicole's terror. All four grabbed two poptarts each and headed for the garage, grabbing a backpack filled with notebooks and pens on the way out.

They arrived exactly four minutes before classes started, and Bex let them out at the door.

"Text me after school! I have a feeling you'll be staying!" Bex said, leaving them wondering why as she pulled out. The four girls smoothed down their hair and took a deep breath before walking through the doors of the middle school into the crowded halls. As they pushed opened the door, straggling sixth graders ran down the hall, thinking it was a teacher, but the seventh and eight graders turned, fixed on who was coming in so close to the bell.

"The office is this way," Nicole muttered, leading the way towards the small room.

As they walked, all eyes were on them. They were like four princesses from a movie, they had the attention of everyone. As they walked towards the office, the crowd split away, leaving them a path.

"She would know," Lauren muttered, rolling her eyes as she followed her friend. The others laughed at her weak joke. They walked in the office and looked around for someone. The computers behind the desk were empty, but in the back room was a man in a suit, the principal.

"Um, excuse me," Lexie said, grabbing his attention. He turned around, a welcoming smile on his face.

"Hello ladies, what can I do for you?" he asked, walking behind the counter.

"Um, we're new. We don't have schedules or anything," Lauren started talking.

"Names?" he asked, picking up a pile of papers.

"Evelyn Carter," Nicole said, taking the schedule handed her and a crudely drawn map of the school she already knew her way around.

"Alison," Lauren said.

"Brianna," Audrey said.

"Riley," Lexie said, taking the last paper out of his hands.

"I'm Mr. Zambodi. Welcome to North Cove Middle School," he said, before showing them out of the office with a smile.

"Well, we have the same first period," they said, quickly memorizing the schedules and the map. They looked at each other and shrugged before heading off towards their first class, science.

Audrey's schedule was:

1: Life Science

2: Algebra

LUNCH

3: Journey (Elective)

4: English 7

5: History: Civil War to Present

6: Gym

7: French One (Elective)

Nicole's schedule was the same, except her fourth, fifth, and sixth classes were in a different order; Lauren and Lexie had the same schedule exactly, missing Nicole in fourth and six, and Audrey in fifth.

"You're late," their science teacher said, and Nicole looked up to see her most hated teacher in the school in front of her.

"Excuse us, we're new," Lexie said.

"Oh. Well, I'm Mrs. Hammond. Welcome to Life Science. There are some empty seats scattered around the room, please find one," she said. The girls nodded and took a seat.

Forty Five minutes later, the girls yawned and filed out of the classroom behind their classmates, exhausted at a lesson they learned in the first week at Gallagher.

"Hi! I'm Amy!" a blonde said, running up to them. "Welcome to North Cove! You were in my last class right? Are you all sisters? Because I mean that would be really cool!" she gushed.

"Quadruplets," Lauren said friendly.

"Ohmygosh that is so cool! So do you know where you're going next because I'd love to show you around! My name's Amy, did I already say that? I think I did. Oh, you're in advanced math? That's amazing, so am I! I'll show you around on the way there!" she said, talking so fast it was almost funny.

"How'd you know…" Lexie started.

"I saw your schedule!" Amy interrupted, pointing to the paper in her hand.

"Oh," Lexie said, looking around.

"So do you guys play any sports? Because you would so totally rock if you did!" Amy said. She had 'lead' them around all day, and after gym, she was amazed at their wonderful dodge ball abilities. Everyone in their gym class was, for that matter.

"Softball," all four girls answered automatically.

"Really? How ironic! There's softball tryouts after school today!" Amy said.

"Really? We might have to stay," Nicole said playfully, and all her friends nodded.

"I'll be there!" Amy said. And then she ran off.

"Is she always like that?" Lexie asked once she was gone.

"She was like, my best friend," Audrey said.

"Yes she's always like that," Nicole said, answering Lexie's question.

"We're going to dominate at softball tonight," Lauren said. Lauren may have been an Anderson, daughter of Elizabeth Sutton and Jonas Anderson, but she had lots more coordination and athletic ability than they did. Although she was on the clumsy side and tended to attract injury, Lauren made a great catcher and homerun hitter.

*****!~~~~~!*****

"That was awesome!" Lexie said, shifting her backpack from one shoulder to the other as they walked down the sidewalk.

"I'm glad Mom packed softball stuff for us," Audrey said. Macey had snuck their gloves, sliding shorts, and athletic shorts and socks into their suitcases, and after seventh period, they had ran home and grabbed their stuff and ran back, barely out of breath and still had four minutes to change.

"My feet hate those cleats, though," Lauren muttered. Her cleats, stuffed into the side of her duffle bag, were one size too small and had a hole along the side where she had slid so much. She had slid her socked feet into a pair of marshmallow shoe slides before they started walking home, but blood blisters were already popping along her toes and ankles.

"I can't wait to get home," Nicole muttered, watching the roof of the house that replaced her old one gradually grow larger as they grew closer.

Behind them, a man followed at a great distance, his piercing teal eyes tracking every movement they made. Four new girls were a perfect target for him. Practically just practice.

As he picked up his pace to catch up to them, a redhead shouted, "RACE YOU!" and they took off running, backpacks banging against their backs, hair bouncing, and dufflebags smacking their hips. He would have to wait until next time.

Behind him, Zach slid his sunglasses on top of his head, revealing his emerald eyes. He slid the camera into his pocket and kept walking, his focus on the soft footsteps he could hear in front of him.

"We're home!" Lexie shouted as the four girls walked in the door, their cleats scratching the hardwood flooring.

"Cleats off, now!" Bex yelled from the kitchen, appearing in the entry way seconds later to make sure the traitors shoes were abandoned at the door and stuffed into bags so they wouldn't be forgotten tomorrow.

"How was practice?" she asked, taking in their dusty appearances. Lauren had mud lines on her face where her sweat had mixed with the dirt in the catchers helmet, Lexie and Audrey had bruises already purple on the tops of their knees from practicing pitching with each other, and Nicole, along with Lauren, had dirt smeared up her left side, a sign of the many slides she did stealing home plate.

"Good," all four answered, smiling.

"Homework?" she asked.

"Mhm," they all said, dropping their duffelbags at the edge of the stairs and taking their backpacks into the kitchen to work on their homework at the table.

"It's all so easy," Nicole said, five minutes into her homework. She had already finished the two double sided worksheets in math, and was now moving onto chapter questions in science.

"We learned it all months ago," Audrey added.

"Good," Bex said from in front of the stove. She was cooking something for dinner, and the girls stomachs growled in protest.

The phone rang, and the girls stared at it like they expected someone to jump through it. "Grant, can you get that!" Bex yelled.

"Can't! I'm on the phone with Jonas!" he yelled back, and Bex sighed. She picked up the phone and pleasantly said hello.

"OH, hey Zach!" she said, and the girls cast each other a short look.

"Oh really? This might go faster than we expected then," she said, stirring the frying food on the stove. The girls, now finished with their homework, dropped their books into their backpacks and ran to the stairs, shouldering their duffels on the way. Upstairs, they each entered their own rooms, unpacked and repacked their softball bag, and then ran into Nicole's room.

"What is going on?" Audrey asked, sitting Indian style in the floor.

"I'm about to find out," Lauren muttered, typing away violently on her computer.

"You were up until two last night trying to figure it out. You can't do it," Lexie said.

"I'm almost there," Lauren defended herself, but suddenly, a loud boom came from her computer, and she looked up, her mouth in a firm line. On her screen read:

_Lauren Alison Anderson. Nice try, hun, but we personally have this blocked. It's virtually unhackable. Your clearance level is not high enough to see. Sorry._

_~Liz and Jonas_

"Ugh!" we all groaned, laying back.

"Maybe….maybe Page can hack it," she said, looking at her friends. "You think?" she asked.

"Probably not," they chorused, and Lauren frowned.

"Wait!" Nicole said, shooting upright from her position on the bed. "Can you hack a land line?"

"I can tap a land line, yes," Lauren said. "I just need access to the phone cable," she said, digging around in the bottom of her bag. Twenty seconds later the phone jack in Nicole's room was broke but the line was tapped. Sound came up on Lauren's computer.

"….bait…"

"…..sidewalk behind them. Would have been easy if they hadn't started running."

"He'll go for it tomorrow."

"He saw me."

"He'll clear the area and go for it."

"Let's hope so. Tell Grant to be ready."

They all looked at each other, mouths agape.

"Did you all gather the same thing I did?" Audrey asked.

"We're stalker bait?" Lexie squeaked.

"Tomorrow?" Lauren said.

"Guys, have you forgotten?" Nicole said, staring at them all. "We're Gallagher Girls. Plus," she added, a sad grin on her face. "He and I have already met."

**Review! :) Please. You know you want to.**


	11. Chapter 11: Matt

**Hello again readers! Here is chapter eleven! A little preview of what is going on back home! (and hopefully, a little bit of the sibling love going on) lol. I only got one review for the last chapter. I know this story is failing, but can i at least get a review? Please guys?**

**Chapter Eleven**

*Back at Gallagher* Matt's POV

The halls seemed abandoned, the classes quieter. It took me three hours to realize the halls were four people less filled, the seventh grade class four girls empty. I didn't realize how much noise my sister and her friends made; how many people stopped just to talk to her; how much of the conversation that filled the halls was about her, her friends, and from them. Now that they were nowhere to be found, I realized just how much they were in the seventh and eighth grade halls.

Gallagher had a history, even after the permanent exchange with Blackthorne of not a single person skipping a class. If you were late, there was a very good reason for it. (Like, an explosion in the chem lab or a trip to the nurse with a concussion or bruised rib in P&E). The fact that my sister and her best friends were missing and none of the teachers had told me, Page, Michael, or Chris about it lead me to believe they were hiding. Or sneaking out. Or something of the like.

If she was hiding in one of her secret passageways and skipping class….I know the whole 'Our-Family-is-Spies' thing and the fact that mom went MIA for a while was weighing down on her. I wasn't clueless and stupid. I could tell. Not to mention her usually I-don't-give-a-crap attitude about school had to change suddenly and she was breaking promises to the most important people in her life, she was an emotional wreck. I knew it. I saw it. But I also knew that she would eventually break down her walls and come sit in my bedroom floor and talk to me for hours on end while the guys were out doing something, but it hadn't come to that point yet.

"Guys, have you seen Nicole and them?" I asked, joining up with Michael, Page, and Chris in the hall on our way to Culture and Assimilation (the most boring class ever.)

"Yeah, Nicole's about five two and has dark hair and blue eyes. Lauren has blonde…" Page started.

"Not what I meant," I said, slapping the back of his head as he laughed and tried to dodge my oncoming blow.

"Today?" Michael asked. I nodded. "No, I haven't," he said.

"Do you not find that odd?" I asked.

"Well…..yes," Chris finally said. The internal bell in my head went off and we stepped into the classroom and silently took our seats while Madame Dabney's head was still turned towards the board.

I pulled a sheet of paper from my back pocket (it was an old assignment I had gotten back earlier…) and took out a pen.

_Where wud they b?_ I sent the note across the room in a perfect arch, watching it land on Chris's desk.

The note came sliding across the floor soudlessly, stopping at my foot. In between Madame Dabney's rotational looks around the room in an attempt to make eye contact with everyone, I bent down to retrieve it.

_Cnt thnk of a reason thyd skip class_ Chris had written. I looked over and then back at the paper.

_If they aren't skipping class, then where are they?_ I wrote, digging my pen into the paper in places so hard it made holes and the ink seeped through the paper. I folded the paper up and this time passed it down the row of kids until it got to Chris. He opened it and shrugged, stuffing the paper in his pocket, a sign we had come really close to being caught.

I turned my attention to the front of the room, but my mind was not on class-it was on Nicole.

After class, I wandered around a few minutes before I saw Brad. Maybe he knew where she was.

"Brad," I said, slightly louder than normal volume and with much more purpose than someone who just wanted to chat would. Internally flinching, I took a deep breath. I didn't want to scare the kid away. I mean, he knew I was Nicole's brother.

"Hey Matt," he said, seeming at ease, but his quick glance around for a friend to save him gave him away. If the situation didn't seem so dire, I could have had fun, but instead, I got right to the point.

"Have you seen Nicole?"

"As in, your sister Nicole?" he asked. I nodded slowly. "As in, Nicole Goode?" he repeated. I nodded again, trying desperately to keep my patience. "Today?" he wondered, and then I watched as he searched his memory for a sight of her. Maybe her hair disappearing around a corner, the last second of her laugh as she entered a classroom, her and her friend's quickly fading footsteps as they walked quickly to the next class. Anything to tell me they were here, and they were in class.

"No, I haven't," he said slowly, and I frowned.

"K, thanks. Just wondering," I said, before turning back to the stair case. With only a second's hesitation, I decided I was going to skip my next class and talk to my grandma.

I walked up the stairs to the Hall of History and noticed class had already started. The Halls were empty.

"Matt, come in," my grandma said from behind her closed door. How she does that, I will never know, but Mom says she did it when she was a teenager, too. So I guess it's just a spy thing. Shaking my head, I walked quickly walked down the hall and turned the knob to her office, listening to it click as it opened and the door squeak as it revealed her office.

"Why aren't you in class?" she asked, looking up from paperwork on her desk. A pen was posed in midair, and I took a seat on the couch across from her desk, resting my elbows on the ends of my khaki cargo shorts.

"I noticed the seventh grade class was missing four students," I said, watching her expression. She didn't seem shocked to hear the news, she didn't even seem worried. Where ever Nicole and her friends were, they were there with permission from the Headmistress.

"It took you four class periods to notice?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. If she was trying to change the subject by commenting on my poor Covert Operation skills (not that I'd had CoveOps yet… it was just that the teacher was my Uncle and my parents were pretty beast spies…) she was going to have to try harder.

"No ma'am," I said, frowning. "I noticed in my third class," I said.

"That still is a while," she said.

"Well, I don't actually have any classes with them," I defended. "And one of those missing four people is a pavement artist."

"No, but you are on the same halls with them. And you happen to be the brother of said missing individual."

"True," I said.

"OK, and you spent the last two classes trying to figure out where they were?" she asked.

"Yes," I said.

"Instead of paying attention to Madame Dabney and Dr. Fibs?"

"Not exactly," I defended myself, catching her in a half smile. "Where is Nicole?" I asked.

"She's in the infirmary," she said, sitting back in her chair.

"No she's not," I said, knowing if Nicole had gotten sick it would be the first time in her life, and if she was injured she would rather tough it out then see the doctors in the infirmary.

"Have you checked?" she asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Yes," I lied smoothly. "The infirmary was empty," I added, remembering a side conversation I had heard only a few hours before. The doctor had come out of the hallway leading to the infirmary and met up with Uncle Joe in the hall.

"Alright, I give you credit," my grandmas said, smiling. "She's in the sublevels with your uncle for the day."

"No, she's not," I said. If Nicole was in the sublevels with her friends and Uncle Joe, the students taking Covert Operations would have said something about it. Plus, she didn't have Clearance to go down there yet.

"Yes she is," my grandmother argued.

"Then I want to go down there," I said. She frowned. I smiled.

Nicole, as a seventh grader, had less clearance than even me, and let me tell you, my clearance was pretty low.

"Fine," my grandma sighed. "Her location is classified," she said.

"Classified?" I asked. If her location was classified she was on a mission…and if she was on a mission, she was going to have to embrace the whole "I'm a Spy" thing. Fast.

"Yes," my grandma verified.

"And how's she liking that?" I asked skeptically.

"Her mission is classified. She's simply attended a public school for the time being."

"So she doesn't know what exactly she's supposed to be doing?"

"No."  
>"And how's she liking that?" I repeated.<p>

"Matthew," my grandma sighed.

"Yes?" I asked, a mischievous smile forming on my face.

"She's not," my grandma sighed. "You have a class you should be attending," she added, standing and opening her door, ushering me out.

**Please leave me a review. I'm trying to make this story fifteen chapters, so yeah. Reviewplease!**


	12. Chapter 12: Caught

**Thanks for the few reviews! These last couple of chapters are in Nicole's POV, and I think theres only going to be 14 chapters! :( Read and Review please! :)**

**Chapter Twelve**

**Nicoles POV**

"Get up girls!" Bex yelled, knocking repeatedly on our bedroom doors as she made her way down the hall. I pretended not to notice and rolled over, pulling the pillow over my head to drown out the racket. I heard Audrey moan but the shower started running forty-five seconds later, so I knew she was up. In the room next door Lexie hadn't stirred, at least not anything major enough to create sound, and I hadn't heard Lauren get up either. I wasn't the only one trying to skip school today. Or at least catch some extra sleep.

"I'm not kidding, Riley," I heard Ms. Baxter say, and I realized that we were undercover and, as much as we didn't like it, we had a job to do. Even that didn't have enough persuasion to get me out of bed. From inside Lexie's room I heard some loud banging, a shout or two, the sound of glass shattering, and then a slamming door as she traded places with Audrey who had just emerged from the bathroom.

"Evelyn, seriously, get your butt outa bed," Ms. Baxter said, but with my back to the door, she couldn't see my eyes staring openly at the window, so I kept my breathing even and pretended to be asleep. "I _Know_ you're awake. Get up," she said.

Mom would call me rude and disobedient. Dad would threaten to come teach classes for a while if I didn't behave. Matt would be jealous of my opportunity to sleep in. Nope, still not enough persuasion.

"Evelyn Carter! Get your little butt out of bed before I make you get out of bed!" she said, her voice getting louder. Stiffling a laugh, I rolled over and moaned, bringing my blanket over my pillow over my head. The whole-name card was a lot less intimidating with a fake name and no middle name.

"You have eight minutes to get ready!" Audrey yelled from the doorway, and I checked my internal clock before reacting. She wasn't lying.

"What?" I screeched, sitting up and throwing off my blankets. My feet hit the floor and I stood up, only to get dizzy and sink back down.

"She's right. I told you to get up," Mrs. Baxter said before walking down the hall to tell Lauren she had less than eight minutes to get ready for school.

Sighing, I grabbed the first pair of pants my fingers touched and ripped them off the hanger in my closet. Not caring that it was eighty eight degrees today, I slid on my dark wash jeans with the bottoms worn out and a pair of Sperrys. I threw on a cami, some deodorant, and then a tank top with sleeves just wide enough to pass school dress code. I pulled my hair up into a ponytail on the top left of my head and clipped back the short pieces with a bobby pin. I applied eyeliner and mascara before storming down the stairs.

The house was empty except for Lauren who came sprinting down after me, a lipgloss tube in one hand and shoes in the other. I grabbed an apple off the basket on the counter and tossed one to her. With a finger on her gloss hand, she caught the apple and started eating rapidly as we ran out the door.

"I told you to get up girls. You cannot play the blame game with me," Mrs. Baxter said as soon as the car doors were closed and the trunk was filled with backpacks and duffle bags.

The ride to school was pretty silent, but as soon as we were dropped off and Mrs. Baxter had pulled out of the parking lot, Lauren looked me and I looked at her and we laughed. Our makeup less faces, our wrinkled clothes, and our lack of breakfast filled growling stomachs seemed like a pretty good make up for more sleep, although Audrey openly disapproved of our priorities and Lexie mumbled something about being lucky she wasn't our mom.

"Guys, you do realize today is the day we get to go home, right?" Lauren asked, stuffing her backpack into her locker and pulling out her Science binder. Copying her, I slammed my locker and leaned with my back against it as I waited for Audrey and Lexie to get ready.

"Not necessarily," I said. We had only been here less than a week anyways. Unlike everyone else, I was actually happy to be back in a normal school setting, even if I was lying the whole time about who I was. I didn't go to Gallagher by choice, I went because it was expected. That's not to say I didn't like Gallagher, no I did, but sometimes it was too much to handle. Sometimes, I wanted to be this Evelyn Carter cover I was playing. Two days wasn't long enough.

"Whatever," Lauren said, sliding her cell phone into her back pocket and slamming her locker beside mine. Two more lockers slammed and we joined the rest of the school in the crowded hallways as we walked to class. I hoped today wasn't the day we got to go home.

!***!***!

"Please send all four Carters to the office," the intercom in the classroom said, and I slowly stood up, ignoring the 'oooh's coming from the rest of the class. Once we were in the hall, Lauren started freaking out.

"Guys, what if we're in trouble? What if…"

"We're not in trouble. We've only been here one and a half days. It's really hard to get on teachers bad sides and get in trouble in less than two days. Believe me," I said, smiling. "It took me all of sixth grade to get on the bad side of teachers here. Once you are, you'll know it."

"Then why are we going to the office?" Audrey asked.

"I don't know," I said, shrugging.

We walked into the office, and the secretary looked up, almost in tears. Whoa.

"Girls, your mom called. She said to come home immediately. Apparently there was a small kitchen fire at your house and your aunt was over and she was hospitalized. They don't know if she's going to make it. So get your stuff and go on home," she said, handing us a slip of paper. Whatever act Bex Baxter had put on over the phone had really messed our secretary up.

With fake tears falling from Lauren and Audrey's eyes, we managed to leave the office in a believable daze. We kept up the act until we were out of the school without security cameras. My dufflebag on my shoulder was rubbing it raw, but I barely noticed. Already, behind us were two guys, dressed in greys and blacks and jeans, and in front of us coming our direction was one more.

"Guys," I muttered, whistling.

"I know," they chorused in reply. Looking in a small puddle on the road, I saw the guys behind us were gaining ground.

"Hello there," the guy that was walking our direction said, stopping in front of us.

"Hi," we mumbled, trying to shove our way around him. He wouldn't allow that.

"No, now don't go running off. I just want to talk," he said, checking us out openly. Clenching and unclenching my fist, I looked at my friends, who were frozen at the moment.

"Well we don't. Have a nice day," I said, grabbing their wrists and pushing past. Suddenly, there was a jerk on my backpack, and I was yanked backwards.

"Let go of me," I muttered, my voice turning to steel.

"No thanks," they replied, and i looked at my friends. They were holding on to them, too, but I had their attention. With a single nod, the four of us slipped out of our backpacks, dropped our duffle bags, and launched roundhouse kicks. Four kicks and only three heads meant someone got it from both sides. As my feet hit the ground and I spun with my momentum, I didn't have time to see which one it was.

I launched a punch to the single guy's gut, sending him doubled over in unexpected pain. While he was down, I slammed my fist into his neck, sending him face first to the ground. Out of options, I kicked off my shoes and while my hands were unlacing them, my body was ducking punches, sending quick kicks to the knees and ankles, and watching out of the corner of my eyes how well my friends were faring.

Only having half a semester of P&E, we relied on Karate lessons, gymnastics, and instincts to guide us. I managed to unlace my shoe laces and get enough cover to tie my unconscious friend up and roll him off the sidewalk where our battle was taking place. As I spun back around to the battle, I saw blood dripping to the ground. With only a glance, I knew Lauren's nose was bleeding something awful, probably broken by the crooked looking set, but she was still fighting. The pair that had followed us were better fighters, more expectant.

As we began to tire, they began to fight harder. With less moves than I thought possible, they each had one of us in each hand, a finger digging into our pressure point just hard enough to remind us they were there. Within a second of standing still, they had flipped us over on their shoulder, carrying us much like one would a sack of potatoes.

The fight evaporating from our bodies, we launched a few last punches and kicks from our pathetic positions before our captivators pulled syringes out of their pockets. With a sharp jab, a squeal escaped my lips as a thick substance entered my bloodstream. Almost instantly, I began to feet woozy, and what felt like seconds but had to be at least five minutes later, I was being shoved into a car, my friends surrounding me, bloody, half asleep, and bruised. When the door closed and no light entered, I realized we were in the trunk of a car. The sound of the engine started lulled my drug induced mind to sleep.

"Nicole," a familiar voice whispered, but I could seem to move.

"Nicole," it tried again. Trying desperately to respond, I blinked furiously, moving grit, sleep grime, and sweat salt out of my eyes. Where ever we were, I couldn't tell I had opened my eyes. Beside me, I finally registered the voice was that of Lexie.

"Lex," I whispered trying to sit up. The dull ache throughout my whole body reminded me of our fight, and my pounding head reminded me of our loss.

"Shhh, they're just outside," she whispered, pointing to a thin line of light that seemed to be shining under a door. There was no use in looking around, but I did anyways, instantly finding Audrey and Lauren lying beside me. Lauren's face was bloody and tearstained, her nose crooked and swollen, but her eyes were closed, so I believed whatever drug we had been injected with hadn't yet worn off.

"I want the red head," a voice said outside the door.

"There's two," someone else said.

"Does it matter? We're just going to have to kill them afterwards anyways," a third voice said.

"Wait. Our parents were tracking down a rape and murder gang? I thought they did cooler things than that?" I muttered, rolling my eyes.

"Cole, shut up. You've only heard three sentences," Lexie said.

"Then what are they?" I asked.

"They are a terrorist organization. We're just their part time job. If they caught them for this, they would have a right to get a warrant and blow up the big terrorist biz that's undercover," Lexie said, and right as her lips stopped moving, the door opened slightly. Lexie closed her eyes, so I followed suit.

"They're still out. Should we move them now?" a voice asked.

"Drug them again first. It should be wearing off," a different voice answered.

Light from the outside room shone to my eyelids, and it took everything in me for me not to open my eyes when the needle stuck my thigh. Way up my thigh. Where my jeans used to be. My jeans…

It wasn't as much this time, I could tell. It may have been enough to keep someone already asleep out for maybe five minutes longer, but since I was already awake, it was just enough to make me feel a little sleepy. Suddenly, i was being picked up, bridal style, and carried out of the room. Thirty five seconds later, a door opened and I was deposited on a bed before my transporter left, closing and locking the door behind him.

I sat up and looked at myself in the light. My jeans hadn't been taken off, instead, there were holes up and down them at various levels, and my skin in each hole was needle prodded it seemed. My shirt was the same, falling off my shoulders. Realizing I was on a bed, I pulled my knees up to my chest and analyzed the room. No way in except the door. No way out except the door, which was locked from the outside and I didn't have anything to pick it with. A single bed was in the middle of the room, where I was sitting, and that was it. The walls and floor were concrete.

Realizing there was no point in fighting my way out yet, I sat and waited, allowing my body to fight the drug. Seven minutes after being set in the room, my slow brain registered the lock turning and the door opening. In walked a man, a knife in one hand. The overheard conversation came back to me, and I struggled not to barf. Instead, I blinked groggily.

"Good, you're awake," he purred, pulling a syringe out of his pocket.

As he walked closer, I launched my attack, nailing a bruising blow below his eye, a kick in his gut, and a sweep to send him to his feet. As I started to head for the door, though, something stabbed my leg, and I realized he hadn't set the syringe down. Instantly, my body sank to the floor.

The man picked me up gently and set me on the bed before leaning down and pressing his lips to mine. Disgusted, I tried to fight back, but my body was too weary, too slow. My shirt was being pulled over my head when a loud bang came from the door, a familiar face walked in with a gun, and I blacked out, too many drugs in my system.

**Review? PLEASE?**


	13. Chapter 13: I can't do this

Thanks for my single reviewer! You rock! I laughed! :) Heres the next chapter

**Chapter Thirteen**

When I awoke, I woke up on high alert, instantly remembering the events prior to my drugged blackout. Under me was a cold hard floor, my spine jarring against it with every bump. Bump: we were on the road. I was in a vehicle. With my eyes still closed, I listened around me. Voices I didn't really expect to hear flooded my mind.

"They're Ok." My mom.

"Sleeping drugs." My dad.

"Mom, is Nicole going to wake up?" Audrey.

"I don't understand why you would put her through this." Uncle Joe.

"Give me the phone." Macey McHenry. Aunt Macey as I thought about it.

"Audrey, hun, sit still," Josh McHenry. Uncle Josh.

"Daddy, she's not moving," Audrey whispered, sounding young, scared, and insecure: three things I had never heard from Audrey McHenry. Desperately, I tried to move. Tried to open my eyes. Tried to do something to tell my best friend that I was Ok. It felt like I was dead; my body wouldn't respond to anything I told it to do. I couldn't even open my eyes to see.

"She had a lot more drugs than you did," Josh said. "She'll be Ok soon," he said.

"H…ell…..p," I managed to make my lips move and my eyes flutter open. Fighting these drugs was impossible.

With a firm hold on my upper arms, someone strong helped me up into a sitting position and wiped my hair out of my eyes. Suddenly, cold water was running down my face in little pools, and I blew out to keep it from going up my nose and in my mouth as my head was tilted around. I was handed a towel, and I dried my face slowly.

"Nicole," the person holding on to me from behind whispered so low I thought I had imagined it. Looking around, I realized we were in the back of a van, Audrey and her parents on the left side, and me, my mom (who had just poured water on my face) and the man holding on to me, my dad, on the right.

"Daddy," I whispered, turning my body sideways so I could look up at him.

"Hey Short-Stuff," he muttered, gently brushing stray hairs out of my face. "You really had us worried," he added. I leaned my head onto his shoulder and sighed.

"We're here!" Uncle Joe called up from the front seat, and I looked questionably at my father.

"Safehouse. We're meeting up with everyone here and staying for a while while you guys recover."

"Oh," I said quietly, allowing myself to be picked up and carried out of the van. The sunlight felt good on my skin as Dad carried me across a gravel driveway, up a porch's stairs, and into a cabin-like house. My body jarred when every step, and as I regained feeling through my legs, feet, and toes, I was sat on a bed decorated with quilts and a pillow. Mom handed me a bottle of water, and I chugged the whole thing in under a minute.

Beside me, Audrey was sporting a split lip and a bandage around her left forearm. Her clothes looked very similar to mine, holey and violated. More people walked in the door, and I watched as an unconscious Lauren was carried in, followed by Lexie who was walking between her parents. Her nose was dripping blood, and her right shoulder looked out of place, and her left hand was squeezed to a fist around something so hard her knuckles were white.

She sat on the bed between me and Audrey, her face expressionless and her eyes glassy. Uncle Joe, Josh, and Jonas walked over to Lauren and I heard a sickening pop as her nose was set back into his rightful position. I blinked and bit my lip when I heard her stir and moan in pain.

"Nicole," a familiar voice said from a little ways out of the room, and I slowly stood and made my way around to where she was, holding on to everything I had access to.

My mom fixed up my injuries and gave me some generic pain pills before offering me a clean set of clothes. All this she did in silence, and all I responded with was bitterness. It was her fault I was here. It was her fault I was half out of the world at the moment. It was her fault I couldn't fight my way out. It was her fault I didn't know enough of the basics to stop any of it from happening. It was her fault it happened.

"Nicole, you're Ok," she said, running a soft brush through my hair and pulling through the knots with smooth precision.

Wanting to hate her but not being able to, I sighed and relaxed my tense muscles, waiting for her to stop brushing my hair and to let me go back into the other room. Finally, my hair was knot-free, and I pulled it up into a sloppy ponytail almost instantly. Mom sighed.

I yawned, grimacing as my chest ached as oxygen tried to enter and exit. It took a few breaths for the feeling to go away.

"It's a side effect of that stuff they gave you," my mom said, and I frowned. Outside of the room we were in, I could hear the dad's working on Lauren's nose still, and Bex and Lexie were in the room across from us, talking it up. I wondered if they could hear the awkward silence in our room.

Suddenly, there was a loud knock on our door, and since I was in my own little world of day dreams, it scared me. I jumped, literally, nailing my hand on the dresser against the wall. Gasping, I closed my eyes and tried to slow my suddenly quick breath down, knowing there was no reason for me to have jumped.

"Zach, get her inhaler," my mom whispered, already beside me, her arms wrapped protectively around me. I opened my eyes in time to see my dad dart back around the corner in calm collectedness and hated myself for jumping at a knock on the door.

My asthma that hadn't acted up since first grade was grabbing hold of me again, and I felt like it was taking grip and tearing my lungs out. I ground my teeth and tried to force my breath to come even, but it felt like trying to stop a tractor trailer going seventy five on the interstate.

My dad walked back into the room, my old inhaler in his hand. I didn't know why they kept it and brought it with them, but I suddenly remembered seeing it at all my softball games in the glove compartment of the car and everywhere else I was at.

The medicine instantly helped even out my breathing and aid in relieving the pain in my chest. As I leaned with my back against the wall, my legs shook with the effort of standing up. My mom stood beside me, her hand warm in mine. My dad frowned, but he wasn't looking at me. He was looking at my mom. Even through everything I'd been through and minimum spy training, I'd lived with that look long enough to know that they were having a conversation without ever speaking.

"Does Matt," I tried asking, interrupting myself to take a deep breath. "Know I'm Ok?" I managed. I could picture my brother going through the motions of class, pretending to pay attention after he'd realized me and my roommates were gone on a mission. I could see him worrying about me, wondering what I was doing, asking why us? We were only seventh graders, and no one had told him anything.

"He doesn't know you weren't ever Ok," Mom said quietly, and I frowned.

"Don't worry about him, Nicole. He's Ok," my dad said, trying to keep my thoughts here. But I didn't want my thoughts here. I wanted my thoughts at Gallagher, where my boys were, where my friends were headed back to soon, where my home was. Even if I didn't want to go.

"What about Brad?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"same thing," my mom said.

"Nicole, everyone at Gallagher is Ok, honey," Dad tried again. Sighing, I looked up from my stare down on the ground, finally deciding that I couldn't beat what would never blink. My dad's sea green eyes met mine, and I remembered our conversation from the infirmary at Gallagher.

"_So, what's got you worried Ev?" he asked, catching her off-guard before she could put her walls up._

"_You. Mom. This whole, spy-school-runs-in-the-family-you-could-possibly-die-thing."_

"_Well, let me tell you something," he said, sitting up straighter. "I am perfectly fine," he said, and Nicole cast him a sideways glance. "Seriously, I am. I'll be out of here tonight, and probably off of Gallagher grounds within a week. And as for your mother-she's strong and smart. She could last a while wherever she is, and we're going to find her, so you have no need to worry."_

_Nicole offered a weak smile in response to his trying to cheer her up, and Zach frowned._

"Don't worry about meeting anyone's expectations, Short-Stuff_," he teased, running his hand through her hair. "_Set some for yourself and meet them_, but do me a favor and stop getting in trouble," he said._

"_Ok, but I'm not in…"_

"Cam," a soft voice came from the door, and Mom looked at me and then released my hand before leaving, closing the door behind her. I looked at Dad and grinned a little.

"Hey Dad?" I asked quietly, sinking to a seat on the floor.

"Yes?" he asked, picking me up and carrying me out to where the beds were. I felt like I was five, but I was really too tired to walk at the moment.

"Is it Ok if my expectations aren't the same as everyone else's?" I asked. Dad knew what I was talking about immediately, because as he laid me back down on the bed I had sat on earlier, he smiled.

"I would be disappointed if they weren't," he said. "But Nicole," he said, brushing my hair out of my face again in a fatherly gesture.

"Hm?" I asked, growing drowsy.

"You did great," he said, and I fell asleep.

This time when I woke up, I was covered by a familiar quilt in an unfamiliar bed.

"Where am I?" I muttered, blinking the sleep from my eyes and struggling to sit up.

"You are in my room," Lexie said, and I looked over to see her sitting on her bed, a sling on her shoulder. Beside her, a cot was shoved against the wall, and Lauren was sitting on it, staring out the window, her face turned so I could only see her profile. Her nose wasn't as swollen and her eyes were bright and back to normal. On the other side of me, Audrey was wrapped up in a quilt that previously lived on her bed at Gallagher.

"When did we make a pit stop at Gallagher?" I asked.

"We didn't. They already knew we were going to need this stuff," Lexie said disgustedly.

"Oh," I said, feeling small and out of place. The familiar feel of the cotton was comforting to my fingers, yet I was far from comfortable.

"I don't want to go back to Gallagher Lexie," I blurted out, and suddenly, Lauren flipped her head around to stare at me and Lexie's eyes widened.

"What?" Lauren asked.

"I don't want to go back."

"Why not?" Lexie asked.

"You can't just bail, Cole," Lauren said.

"I don't want this pressure to do great things, to be a great person. I don't want to live my life killing others or almost dying and causing my family to lose me. I don't want to know how to say "Can I have cheese on my burger?" in fourteen different languages and be able to kill people with paper clips. I don't want to blend in so well no one in the world could follow me so I could live."

"I don't get it," Lauren said. "We experience something no one else would experience until they leave Gallagher- a real mission- and you decide you want to quit?"

"I didn't want to be there in the first place," I muttered.

"Every other kid in the world would love to be in your place," she said.

"Well I'm not every other kid, Lauren!" I yelled. "And it's all fun and games until it's life or death! Your mom didn't go MIA! Your dad didn't almost freakin die and have to stay at Gallagher in the infirmary for weeks! YOUR family didn't keep their life a secret!" I was screaming so loud everyone in the whole entire house could have heard me, and I'm sure they did, but at the moment I didn't care. Everything I'd been feeling at just come tumbling out my perfectly built walls, and the funny thing was, I was glad. That was, until I realized my body was shaking and tears were streaming out of my eyes.

"Nicole," Lexie said, walking over and wrapping her arms around me. Instead of resisting it like I usually do, I allowed it. Lauren got up and came over, too. We stood there, me crying, them keeping me from falling, for ten minutes.

"Sorry," I said, sniffing and rubbing my hand across my nose.

"You're fine," Lexie said, sinking to a seat on the cot beside me.

"So, you really don't want to go back to Gallagher?" Lauren asked.

"I really don't," I said.

"I'm sad to hear that," a man's voice said from behind us, and we all turned to see my Uncle Joe standing in the doorway. "Nicole, your parents want to talk to you. And you have a visitor," he said. I stood up and made sure my eyes weren't red and puffy before walking out of the room. Uncle Joe put his hands on my shoulders and led me through Lexie's house into a room along the back hallway. Sitting in that room was my mom and dad and someone I didn't really expect to see. Matt.


	14. Chapter 14: I'm coming Home

**Chapter 14**

I was sitting on the edge of the creek that ran through the woods behind Lexie's house, the grass and bugs tickling the underside of my legs, the wind blowing my bangs off my sweaty forehead. My hair still hadn't gone back to it's natural color after a week and a half, but I was starting to like the red.

My toes bent down to touch the edge of the water, and I whistled through my teeth as they did. The cool water was unaffected by the sun breaking it's way through the trees, casting an early morning shadow. As my skin grew used to the temperature of the water, I sank my legs in up to my ankles, my feet dangling over the bank. Behind me, I heard rustling, and then the expected company arrived, sinking to a seat beside me.

Taking in everything from the corner of my eye, I noticed Matt, in the three days he had been back at Gallagher (Mom didn't want him to get too behind) had earned a black eye and a split knuckle, and when he started talking, a slight German accent. I guess he had German this semester.

"So, everyone's going to miss you this semester," he said, tipping his own bare feet in the water and splashing up some. The semester change had just happened this week.

"I'm going to miss everyone there, too," I said, frowning. It had been a week since I had told everyone I didn't want to go to Gallagher; didn't want be a spy. My friends were done trying to talk me out of it, instead, they were talking about all the things I'd get to do that they wouldn't. But I knew when I thought about it, they would be the ones doing the cool things.

"You know, it's really not all that bad," Matt tried. His first attempt in a week. It had to be better than that, because if it took him a week to build up to it, either he was chicken, or he had some really great excuses in his armor.

I said nothing.

"Just because you don't take part, doesn't mean that I can't die, or Mom and Dad can't go MIA again. You're not doing anything that will prevent that," he said.

I was listening, but it wasn't like these weren't words I hadn't already heard.

"Nicole, you're one of the best kids in your class. So what if you aren't a pavement artist? You got Dad's genes and I got Mom's. There's more to spying than blending in," he said.

"Hey, I thought I was a pretty decent pavement artist," I said, offended.

"Eh, you're not as good as some," he said, shaking it off. "But you're great at hiding, great at fighting, great at keeping calm. You have all the right traits for a spy, and it's a shame you don't want to use them. I mean, think of how many times you could save Audrey, Lexie, and Lauren's lives in the future. Think about how many more secret passageways there are for you to discover."

"Think about all the lies I'm going to be told, and all the truths I'm never going to be able to share," I countered.

"That's what's bugging you?" Matt asked, raising an eyebrow. I nodded slowly. "Nicole, there's always going to be at least one person you can tell those stories to. You can tell me, you have three friends who will stay on your clearance level that you can tell, and probably a husband one day."

"But I can't tell my kids if I have any," I said.

"You can," he said. "Just because Mom and Dad didn't tell us doesn't mean you can't tell yours," he said, shaking his head.

"I am pretty good at kicking butt, aren't I?" I asked, allowing a small smile to play on my lips as I looked up at my brother.

"That's one way of putting it," he said, smiling.

"How'd you get that black eye?" I asked, changing the subject momentarily.

"Oh this?" he asked, pointing to his face with his finger that had stitches up the knuckle. I nodded. "I was fighting someone for talking crap about you and your friends for 'ditching' Gallagher. I broke their front tooth."

"I can't believe I missed that!" I said, laughing. I leaned over and dipped my fingers in the water, and when Matt finally turned to look at them, I sent a fistful of water into his face.

"Hey!" he cried, jumping forward and tackling me. We fell into the shallow creek, sending a splash up along the banks. The water covered my stomach as I fought from the bottom, but I wasn't complaining. It was too much fun. We wrestled, launching water and handfuls of mud at each other, disturbing the little salamanders living around us.

"Good Grief Nicole," Lexie said, her head appearing through the trees. Two others joined her. "We could hear you squealing all the way from my room!"

"Sorry," I said, stopping my ongoing attack long enough to reply. When they got within range, I splashed them, and after a second of panic, the three of them fell into the creek with me and Matt and joined in on our war.

It wasn't long after the quiet down party had joined us that Dad came out looking for us, my voice being the loudest among the five of us.

"What are you doing?" Dad asked, appearing out of nowhere. Our fire ceased immediately, and I grinned guiltily.

"Um, just messing around," I said.

"Very loudly," he replied.

"Sorry," I said.

"Just keep it down," he said, shaking his head and turning to leave.

"Oh, Dad?" I asked, stepping up over the bank and out of the creek.

"Yes?" he asked, and I heard Matt behind me hold his breath.

"I changed my mind. I want to be the best spy the CIA has ever seen," I said, smiling. Behind me, my friends cheered and my brother smirked (I know he did). My dad smiled and bent down so his green eyes were level with mine.

"I'm proud of you Shorty," he said. "Way to set your own expectations." He lifted me up and set me on his shoulders. "Let's go alert your Uncle that he's taking one more back with him tomorrow," he said, and we all walked out of the woods towards Lexie's house. I'd never felt so sure of anything in my entire life.

**Thanks for the reviews guys! I'm sad to see this story end! If I get five reviews asking for a epilogue, I'll write one. Otherwise, this is the end! Thanks for reading and reviewing. Check out my other stories! **

**Lemonn-Limee**


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